Filmmakers ponder Badger State options, sans tax credit

By Kirsten Adshead | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON – After fighting to get “The Surface” filmed for a solid 18 years, writer and producer Jeff Gendelman says he has “armadillo-like skin.”

So when Wisconsin canceled its tax-incentive program aimed at encouraging commercial, movie and video-game makers to produce their creations in the Badger State … well, “The Surface” production team just kept moving forward.

Gendelman said he had expected about $100,000 from the tax credit.

“It’s just another obstacle,” he said. “It’s another test of my endurance and fortitude to see this film come to fruition.”

Part of that has been his determination to film the movie in the Milwaukee area, where he once lived.

Starring Sean Astin and Chris Mulkey, “The Surface” has been shooting in southeastern Wisconsin for the past couple of weeks.

Gendelman worries, though, that without the tax credit program as an incentive — or a personal connection to the state like his —  filmmakers will abandon Wisconsin for more tax-friendly locales.

Asked whether “The Surface” producers could find other tax credits in Wisconsin, Gendelman said, “That is in process.”

Asked whether they found a credit to help them yet, he said, “No, ma’am.”

Tax credit, we barely knew ye

Plot the rise and fall of Wisconsin’s film tax credits program on a graph and you’ll see barely a blip.

First available five years ago, the program handed out credits to 11 productions in 2008-09, totaling $6.5 million.

Read more at WisconsinReporter.com

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