Tiny tax breaks for filmmakers in Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Is Indiana missing out on critical jobs because we're not offering more incentives to filmmakers? 24 Hour News 8 discovered an independent film being shot right now in Indianapolis.

Independent filmmakers Jaron Henrie-McCrea and Shrihari Sathe decided on a neighborhood south of Broad Ripple as one of several Indianapolis locations for a full month of shooting on their project: Pervertigo. It's a dark comedy about a peeping tom hired to murder his landlord's wife. Instead, he falls in love with her.

"The reason I came back to Indiana is because it's my hometown," says the film's director, Henrie-McCrea. "I've got home-court advantage."

Sports themes dominate films made in Indiana. For “Hoosiers,” the home gym location was in Knightstown, Ind., and the final game at Hinkle Fieldhouse. “Rudy” was shot at Notre Dame, “Breaking Away” in Bloomington, and two baseball films, “A League of Their Own” and “Eight Men Out” were both shot on location in Indiana.

"We provide small tax credits to help them out, but that's a pretty rare occasion," admits Indiana's Commerce Secretary Mitch Roob. "And our tax credits really aren't that much money."

Tax credits are just for films with budgets topping $100,000. Five years ago, the director of “Hoosiers” and “Rudy,” Angelo Pizzo and “Rudy” star Sean Astin pleaded with lawmakers to boost tax incentives for the film industry. It never happened.

Pervertigo's producer, Sathe, believes more should be done.

"The state has a lot to offer, so I think the state government should take advantage of that,” Sathe said.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal profiled Michigan's success in luring Hollywood. In Motown Becomes Movietown, the journal wrote that Michigan's 42 percent in tax incentives on in-state production spending drew more than 100 TV or movie projects the last two years. Spending should top $650 million. Compare that to just $2 million in 2007. Indiana doesn't even track those numbers.

Roob explains why.

"Filmmaking is a nice thing to do; it's a nice thing to have. It doesn't produce a huge amount of steady work," he says.

Pervertigo premieres at a theatre or film festival near you next spring.