Two New Movies Are Filming In SC
BOTH LOOK SORTA GAY THOUGH, UNFORTUNATELY
FITSNews – June 25, 2008 – We just got a press release from scorching hot spokesbabe Kara Borie over at the S.C. Department of Commerce, a missive which informed us that two new movies are set to begin filming in South Carolina this year.
The first movie is called “Band of Angels,” which is said to trace “the history of the Fisk University Jubilee Singers from their roots as a struggling opera company to their early success as gospel and spiritual singers.” Yeah … yawn. Big yawn. And sadly, the second movie doesn’t sound much better. It’s called “Dear John,” and it’s supposed to be “the story of a soldier who falls in love with a conservative college girl who he plans to marry, but time and distance take their toll on the fledging relationship.”
Hmmm … these movies sound about as enjoyable as a yeast infection if you ask us, but we’ll wait to hear from DJ Slick about that.
Anyway, the announcement of the new flics comes on the same day that the S.C. General Assembly overrode Gov. Mark Sanford’s veto of a bill that moves the state’s film office out of the Commerce Department and into the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.
The governor controls both agencies, incidentally, so we’re not really sure what the point of the bill was … and given the unmitigated clusterfuck that was the filming of the movie “Nailed” in South Carolina, we’re also not exactly sure why anybody would want to make a movie in such an ass-backward state.
Comments
By Film Babe on June 25th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
The point of moving the Film Office was to show the Secretary of Commerce that he doesn’t have as much power as he thinks he has. The Legislature passed a film incentives bill (and the Guv signed it into law) back in ‘06 to try and bring some of that cool cash our way. It worked. The Film Office recruited some nine projects like “Leatherheads”, “Death Sentence”, “The Strangers”, and the TV series, “Army Wives”. Then the newly appointed Secretary decided to cut back on the working incentives because he (wrongly) believed they were not putting back into the state’s coffers what they took out. Bad move. The state lost out on many chances to recruit more projects. Nothing was shot in ‘07 after the incentives were tweaked. Disney threatened to pull out their cash cow of a TV series that shoots for six months in Charleston. That move pissed off the Legislature. A study was done by USC Moore Business School that showed the state actually collected $25 Million on the $16 Million it gave out in incentives during the ‘06 boon. Joe Taylor didn’t like it and came out with his own study by the College of Charleston showing a different set of figures. The battle was on between Bobby Harrell and Joe Taylor as to who’s gonna control the incentives. The Governor stayed quiet the whole time. New legislation was recently introduced, and voila – the Film Commission is now in a place where they can hopefully get back to work in bringing more films to the state without the Secretary of Commerce butting in.
It’s a no brainer: unlike the traditional, brick-and-mortar, chicken-factory economic development (which seems to be the only kind of industry the current administration understands), the film industry offers something totally unique. To rephrase a line from “A Bug’s Life”: “They come, they spend, they leave.” That’s how a film works. The state doesn’t have to build roads, put in place high volume sewer & water systems, or worry about which school systems are up to snuff. Films need some cool looking locations, and now – whether we agree with it or not – incentives in making a decision where to film.
Some 42 states already have incentives in place. Louisiana and New Mexico are turning away films because they’re over booked. All of us local crew members have to go looking for work elsewhere if the work isn’t here on a regular basis. It was in ‘06. For the first time ever we actually had a choice on what to work on. As a crew member myself, I hope the Film Office can convince Hollywood that SC is serious once again about the industry and bring that steady work back.
By Toyota Kawesaki on June 26th, 2008 at 7:21 am
way to support our state “ass-backward state” please take the short bus out of here with Gov.Moonbeam
By Amazing on June 26th, 2008 at 8:36 am
You keep refering to this state as backassward….. if you hate it that much……. LEAVE…..
Oh but this is your bread-and-butter…. To criticize…..
Those who can’t lead…. BITCH…..
And you are #1 at that
By fitsnews on June 26th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Hey #3,
We don’t just criticize … here are 95 examples of us not criticizing, in fact:
http://www.fitsnews.com/2008/04/27/south-carolinas-ninety-five-theses/
And as for leaving, we were born here, bo-bo. This is every bit as much our state as it is yours. So make us leave, or shut up.
We speak the truth in an effort to change things … if you want to read polished turds, we’d recommend La Socialista …
-FITSNews
By Carl on June 26th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Talk is from the “in crowd”, one of the movies may be a camera phone video of the Speaker…not with his wife, Cathy. Apparently there is already a sequel to the not so familiar clip. Probably won’t ever make it to the Palmetto Grande but am sure it will debut at an appropriate moment in the near future.