Florida and the Film Industry: An Epic Tale of Talent, Landscape, and the Law

Nova Law Review

Volume 38, Issue 1 2013 Article 3

Florida and the Film Industry: An Epic Tale of

Talent, Landscape, and the Law

Mary Pergola Parent

∗

Kevin Hugh Govern

†

∗

†

2013 by the authors. Nova Law Review is produced by The Berkeley Electronic

Press (bepress). https://nsuworks.nova.edu/nlr

FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY: AN EPIC TALE OF

TALENT, LANDSCAPE, AND THE LAW

MARY PERGOLA PARENT

AND KEVIN HUGH GOVERN

ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................... 43

I. FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY: THE LOVERS MEET ............... 45

II. FLORIDA FLAUNTS AND FLIRTS ....................................................... 47

III. FLORIDA CHARMS A CAPTIVATING CAST OF CHARACTERS ............ 50

IV. FLORIDA’S ALLURING CALL REACHES NEW YORK CITY................ 52

V. MESMERIZING MIAMI ...................................................................... 54

VI. THE GIANT AWAKENS TO CONCEIVE A NEW FILM LAW AND

COUNCIL .......................................................................................... 59

VII. FLORIDA PROPOSES WITH TAX INCENTIVES AND THE FILM

INDUSTRY SAYS, “I DO!” ................................................................. 60

VIII. FLORIDA’S FILM INDUSTRY PRODUCES PROGENY .......................... 64

IX. FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY ............. 67

X. FLORIDA’S FUTURE: FAITHFULNESS AND FIDELITY TO THE FILM

INDUSTRY ......................................................................................... 75

XI. CONCLUSION .................................................................................... 79

ABSTRACT

Hollywood East! The honorific title bestowed upon a bewitching

state known for her sandy beaches, warm winter days, and mosquito-filled

Everglades. Florida and the Film Industry: A tale of an alluring titan and a

powerful behemoth behaving like two lovers enmeshed in an affair, complete

with wooing, courting, and rebuffs. A relationship that has lasted over a

century and continues to blossom amidst healthy competition, tax incentives,

innovative legislation, and cooperation. Florida’s commitment to a thriving

film industry—through its legislature, government administrative agencies,

and incentives—has allowed its economy to grow and its citizenry to

flourish, while showcasing Florida to the world.

Mary Pergola Parent, JD, is a lecturer on Law and Film: Images of Justice, as an

Adjunct Assistant Professional Specialist in the Department of Film, Television, and Theatre,

College of Arts & Letters, at the University of Notre Dame.

Kevin Hugh Govern, JD, LL.M, is an Associate Professor of Law at Ave Maria

School of Law, an Instructor of Law and Public Policy at California University of

Pennsylvania, an Adjunct Lecturer at John Jay College, and an Advisory Board Member of

the Center for Ethics and the Rule of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School.

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44 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

This article chronicles the development of the Florida film and

entertainment industry, from its inception to the present day, as a product of

environment, opportunity, economics, law, and policy.

The film and

entertainment industry is one of the most significant contributors to Florida’s

local, regional, and global image, through depiction of its people, cities,

industry, and nature. As an ever-growing contributor to the state’s economy

through job creation, service industry revenues, and tax collections, Florida’s

relationship with the film and entertainment industry has gone from an ad

hoc approach to a carefully strategized, multi-year effort, fueled by the

Florida Film and Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive Program, to

encourage the use of the state as a location for all facets of digital, film, and

television production.

This article will address in Part I the earliest history of film in

Florida from the late nineteenth century birth and flourishing through the

1917 transfer to California and revitalization during World War II.

Part II

considers the state’s economic, political, and legal enticements for the film

industry to grow in the state and to match the public relations campaign to

draw tourism to the Sunshine State.

Part III outlines the essence of 1950s

blockbuster hits that gave impetus to rules and laws to solidify the state’s

relationship with the film industry.

As commented upon in Part IV,

Florida’s compelling call to the industry reached New York City and beyond,

bringing rare talent that would further expand the industry’s reach and hold

in Florida.

Worthy of Part V’s particular focus, mesmerizing Miami

reached international recognition as a thriving hub for both television and

film from the 1950s onward, and industry contractual practices there set the

standard for the entire film and television industry thenceforth.

Part VI

summarizes the background, legislative authority, and practical efforts of the

Governor’s Office of Film and Entertainment, followed by the tax incentives

under state and federal law which caused the film and television industry

efforts in Florida to expand exponentially in the twenty-first century onward

in Part VII; specifically with some of the most notable progeny of this effort

and their value to state, regional, and the national economies showcased in

. See infra Part I–X.

. See The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Florida Film & Entertainment

Industry Financial Incentive Program, FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com/ifi/

incentives.asp (last visited Jan. 18, 2014) [hereinafter The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t,

Florida Film & Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive Program].

. See infra Part I.

. See infra Part II.

. See infra Part III.

. See infra Part IV.

. See infra Part V.

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Part VIII.

Part IX highlights how past is prologue for Florida film and

television, why current state and federal initiatives will prevent major

production efforts from becoming runaway boons to other states and

countries, and the demonstrable economic benefits those laws and policies

have already produced for Florida in particular, and the United States in

general.

In conclusion, Part X predicts how faithfulness and fidelity to the

film and television industry will continue to reap benefits in a multi-billion

dollar relationship continuing into its second century, with over 120 films

and television shows to its credit and counting.

I. FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY: THE LOVERS MEET

The story begins “in 1898, [when] the Spanish-American War

newsreels [entitled] U.S. Cavalry Supplies Unloading at Tampa Florida”

captured and permanently recorded a glimpse of Florida’s story.

Film fever

took hold in Miami and Jacksonville at the turn of the century.

“The years

1907 to 1909 marked the first attempt by the [film] industry to mass-produce

narratives,”

and “Klutho, Edison and Biograph were [the giants] . . . among

more than thirty silent film [studios] based in Jacksonville, [the so-called]

‘Winter Film Capital of the World,’ . . . [welcoming] The Keystone Kops,

Oliver Hardy, and Lionel Barrymore.”

“The [nation’s] first permanent

filming studio, Kalem Studios, [was] opened in . . . 1908” in Jacksonville,

and the port city became a major innovator in the African-American film

industry as well.

Aside from these innovations, Jacksonville would be

. See infra Parts VI, VII, VIII.

. See infra Part IX.

. See infra Part X.

. JAMES PONTI, HOLLYWOOD EAST: FLORIDA’S FABULOUS FLICKS 2

(Kathleen M. Kiely & Dixie Kasper eds., 1992).

. See id. at 2–3, 6.

. THE AMERICAN FILM INDUSTRY 22 (Tino Balio ed., rev. ed. 1985).

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 3; see also BLAIR MILLER, ALMOST HOLLYWOOD:

THE FORGOTTEN STORY OF JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA 1, 3, 41 (2013).

. Jacksonville’s Place in Film History, OFFICIAL WEBSITE CITY

JACKSONVILLE, FL, http://www.coj.net/departments/office-of-economic-development/film-

and-television/film-history-in-jacksonville.aspx (last visited Jan. 18, 2014). Jacksonville’s

official online history notes that:

In 1916, producer Richard Norman came to Jacksonville and opened a movie

studio. Norman, a white man, began his career in the 1910s making movies for

white audiences. Soon afterwards, he began making movies for African-American

audiences, opened his Jacksonville studio and joined the ranks of others, including

Oscar Micheaux and the Lincoln Motion Picture Company, in being a pioneer in

producing movies not only geared towards African-Americans, but that showed

them in a positive light and employed them in the production side of the film

industry. Norman Studios continued to make African-American films, also known

as race movies, throughout the 1920s.

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46 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

responsible for one of the world’s largest movie studios of the twentieth and

twenty-first centuries; Joseph Engel’s 1915 Metro Pictures later merged with

another company to become Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (“MGM”).

Florida’s

relationship with Hollywood was moving quickly, but with competing

priorities and no established rules, a clash was inevitable.

As the industry

grew, these silent film companies began to lock horns with the conservative

Florida folks.

Irate residents were sick and tired of the way the movie

people manhandled their town; in one instance, a script called for a shot of a

red fire engine roaring down Main Street, so the production crew simply

called in a fake fire and rolled cameras as the fire truck screamed to the

rescue, and in another instance, pastors and their congregations lodged

protests that bank robberies were being filmed on Sundays.

Safety became

a major issue.

During the 1916 filming of The Clarion, a riot broke out,

requiring forty police officers to clear out more than 1300 extras.

During

that same year, while filming of The Dead Alive, the actors, following

instructions from the director, sped down the main thoroughfare of

Jacksonville and “plunged [their movie car] into the St. Johns River.”

Apparently, the director had confided in the crew—but did not tell the

actors—that he had saved this scene for last, just “in case the actors [did not]

survive the crash.”

This type of crass “behavior made the film industry the [major topic

of the] Jacksonville[] mayoral election of 1917.”

The conservatives ousted

the pro-movie industry “incumbent Mayor ‘Jet’ Bowden.”

This rang the

death knell for the filmmakers in Florida.

Without the backing and support

of the government, private businesses, and the local community, the movie

industry packed up and headed west.

California offered a friendlier

environment, mountains, beaches, plentiful talent, and a skilled labor force.

Id.

. Id.

. See PONTI, supra note 11, at 3.

. Id.

. MILLER, supra note 14, at 120; PONTI, supra note 11, at 3. For fascinating

contemporary background on the production of this movie, see Manufacturers’ Advance

Notes, MOVING PICTURE WORLD, Jan. 1, 1916, at 1153, 1310, available at http://

ia700707.us.archive.org/21/items/movingpicturewor27newy/movingpicturewor27newy.pdf.

. MILLER, supra note 14, at 120; PONTI, supra note 11, at 3.

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 3.

. Id. at 3–4.

. Id. at 4.

. Id.

. Id. at 3–4.

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 4.

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The film industry settled in to Los Angeles and the cameras stopped rolling

in Florida—temporarily.

Florida’s reputation was tarnished and her relationship with

Hollywood was strained.

It would have been irreparable if not for a bit of

ironic serendipity—“the outbreak of World War II.”

The Cavalry arrived

as “the military brought cameras back to Florida in the early [19]40s.”

“Hollywood brought the war . . . to [hometown] theatres across [the

country].”

The nation’s morale needed a boost and Uncle Sam asked the

studios to help.

The Federal Government “opened military bases to [the]

movie stars and [film] crews [and asked them to join] the cause.”

Florida was brimming with military installations and the humid,

palm-tree-lined coast made it the perfect setting to imitate the tropics of the

Pacific Islands.

Florida cranked out box office smashes like A Guy Named

Joe, 30 Seconds Over Tokyo, and Twelve O’clock High.

These films were

extremely “successful, as [both] entertainment and . . . propaganda.”

Most

importantly, this series of events and opportunities reignited the spark

between Florida and the film industry.

II. FLORIDA FLAUNTS AND FLIRTS

The State of Florida published Florida, A Guide to the Southernmost

State (“The Guide”) in 1939

in order to lure major industries to the

Sunshine State.

Capitalizing on this new vitality brought on by the

. Id. Actually, the cameras did not stop rolling completely. See The

Yearling—Trivia, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039111/trivia (last visited Jan. 18,

2014). MGM tried shooting “[m]ost of the ‘atmosphere’ and outdoors animal scenes [for The

Yearling] . . . by a second-unit crew sent to Florida in 1941, when the project was first begun.

The film was shut down soon after the footage was shot, but . . . it was restarted again in 1946,

[using] the 1941 footage.” Id. “During the final days of filming, actor Gregory Peck was

alternating between the Florida set of this movie and a Texas set, where he was

simultaneously filming Duel in the Sun.” Id.

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 4.

. Id.

. Id. at 5.

. Id.

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 5.

. Id.

. See id.

. FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT, WORK PROJECTS ADMIN., FLORIDA: A GUIDE TO

THE SOUTHERNMOST STATE iv (1939).

. See John J. Tigert, Foreword to FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT, WORK PROJECTS

ADMIN., FLORIDA: A GUIDE TO THE SOUTHERNMOST STATE v, v (1939).

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48 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

rekindled flame of the film industry, the government and administrative

agencies of Florida made a conscious decision to keep the flame alive.

The

Guide, a dense tome describing absolutely everything about Florida,

was

bound in rich green leather and imprinted with a toothy Florida gator right on

the cover.

This unabashed exposé of all that is Florida, complete with

flowery language and detailed economic data, legitimized a state that had

previously been known as primeval territory.

In the Industry and Commerce section, the state’s economic

development is stated in terms of bank resources, which stood at

$500,000,000 in 1927.

Business life in the state is illustrated by the volume

of retail sales, which stood at $504,523,000 in 1929.

“Building contracts

awarded during 1936” increased by 35% over 1935, reaching $72,587,000.

Florida boasted “[f]ifteen [f]ederal highways, [a] [s]tate highway

patrol, [and a] [s]tate gasoline tax [of seven cents].”

Passenger steamship

lines ran from Miami to Jamaica, the Waterman Line ran from Tampa to

Puerto Rico, and the Mobile Oceanic Line embarked from Tampa to

Europe.

Extensive rail travel stretched the length of the peninsula.

But,

one word of caution—some lines had “less than 100 miles of track each.”

At that time, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Florida East Coast Railway

were built to “penetrate the Everglades, meeting at Lake Harbor, south of

Lake Okeechobee.”

. See PONTI, supra note 11, at 5, 7.

. See FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE

STATE OF FLA., supra note 40, passim.

. Id. This was an important moment for Florida. This was the original Film

Florida Production Guide—even though the authors, at the time, did not know it. See id. at iv;

FILM FLORIDA PRODUCTION GUIDE (2003). The spiral bound, color rich guide in 2003, for

example, reports in great detail every aspect of transportation, labor––including union and

non-union workers––permitting, and tax incentives, as “advantages of relocating or expanding

to Florida.” FILM FLORIDA PRODUCTION GUIDE, supra note 44. The Guide from 1939 and the

Film Florida Production Guide in the twenty-first century—although worlds apart in

presentation—embody the same theme. Compare FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK

PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE STATE OF FLA., supra note 40, at ix, with FILM FLORIDA

PRODUCTION GUIDE, supra note 44.

. See FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE

STATE OF FLA., supra note 40, at 9, 93, 472.

. Id. at 93.

. Id.

. Id. at xvii.

. FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE STATE OF

FLA., supra note 40, at xvii.

. See id.

. Id.

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Labor in Florida included “seven locals [of] the International Cigar

Makers’ Union.”

The workforce also included Florida longshoremen and

dockworkers, citrus workers, factory workers, canners, packers, and

boatmen.

By the end of 1937, the American Federation of Labor (“AFL”)

had an estimated membership of “65,000 craft unionists in 400 locals

affiliated with the State Federation of Labor.”

A [s]tate child-labor law, enacted in 1913 and amended in

1915, established minimum wages and maximum hours for the

employment of children . . . . A State workmen’s compensation

law [was] enacted in 1935 [and] provide[d], with exceptions, for

medical care, compensation, and other assistance to workers

receiving injuries while gainfully employed . . . . A Florida

industrial commission [was] created in 1935 [for the purpose of]

exercis[ing] general authority over industrial employment.

Despite union presence in Florida, state laws giving “preference to

the right to work over union membership” allowed Florida to attract

production away from California’s closed shop environment.

Beautiful sepia photos in the Guide enticed readers to join in the

nightlife of Hollywood Beach, walk the links of the St. Petersburg Golf

Course, or visit the Old Slave Market in St. Augustine.

An entire chapter is

dedicated to giving detailed touring directions.

“Tour 5” illustrates the

route from Miami to Naples as a 113-mile trip on US 94.

The tour

promises a “[h]ard-surfaced roadbed throughout” with “[l]imited

accommodations [and] camp sites.”

This section of the Tamiami Trail was

constructed by the State Road Department and opened on April 25, 1928 at a

cost of $13 million.

While traveling Florida in the late 1930s, visitors were encouraged to

photograph the wildlife, respectfully visit the Seminole Villages, and use

caution along the highways, as “[t]he ’Glades [were] thickly overgrown,” the

. Id. at 95.

. See FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE

STATE OF FLA., supra note 40, at 98.

. Id.

. NICK HERD, CHASING THE RUNAWAYS 21 (2004).

. FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE STATE OF

FLA., supra note 40, at 162–63 (photos. reprint), 224–25 (photos. reprint).

. See id. at 297–538.

. Id. at 406.

. Id. at 297, 406.

. Id. at 406.

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“mangled corpses of snakes” laid on the road, and alligators and buzzards

were everywhere.

Florida’s wiles have tempted and then transformed out-of-staters for

decades.

The 1939 Guide describes the transformation this way: “The

person noted for taciturnity in his home community often becomes

loquacious, determined that those about him shall know that he is a man of

substance.”

A spell, whether brief or extended, in the Florida sunshine was

believed to bring out the best in everyone and everything.

Over eighty years ago—just as today—Florida understood the

importance of bringing people, industry, and money to Florida: “Regardless

of individual circumstances and preference, one desire seems to be common

to all—the desire to improve Florida.”

III. FLORIDA CHARMS A CAPTIVATING CAST OF CHARACTERS

The unspoilt scenery of Florida beckoned to the film industry often

in the early 1940s, with exotic potential film locations close to cities with

transportation and production-supporting infrastructure.

Two films

depicting the Second Seminole War of 1835–1842 came out in short order,

with all-star casts.

The first such film, Distant Drums in 1951, featured

Gary Cooper and Mari Aldon in which “American soldiers and their rescued

companions . . . face[d] the dangerous Everglades and hostile Indians in

order to reach safety [in Florida].”

The journey into the Everglades was

only simulated though, as the actual location of the fort in the film was the

historic Castillo de San Marcos in historic St. Augustine, Florida, near the

sprawling metropolis of Jacksonville, Florida.

Shortly thereafter came

Seminole, the 1953 American western film directed by Budd Boetticher and

starring Rock Hudson as “[nineteenth]-century army officer Lance

Caldwell,” born and raised in Florida, and returning from his West Point

. FED. WRITERS’ PROJECT OF THE WORK PROJECTS ADMIN. FOR THE STATE OF

FLA., supra note 40, at 407.

. See id. at 8.

. Id.

. See id. at 8–9.

. Id. at 9.

. See PONTI, supra note 11, at 5.

. See Distant Drums, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043469/ (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014); Seminole, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046294/ (last visited

Jan. 18, 2014).

. Distant Drums, supra note 70.

. See id.

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education to be “assigned to Fort King in the Everglades.”

Along with

Hudson, notables of the time including Barbara Hale, Anthony Quinn, and

Lee Marvin, and the rest of the cast, actually did endure the steamy, humid

surroundings of the Everglades National Park for much of the film’s

shooting.

In 1954, Ricou Browning emerged from an eminently hospitable

Wakulla Springs in a $12,000 half-man, half-fish monster suit.

The

Creature from the Black Lagoon emerged from the murky depths and “saved

Universal [Studios] from impending bankruptcy.”

“Browning, a swimming

champion, was able to hold his breath for up to four minutes . . . [and] is

credited with creating the . . . torso-twisting creature swimming technique.”

Creature from the Black Lagoon grossed $3 million

and helped resuscitate

Florida’s film industry through audiences drawn to its 3-D horror film

appeal, if not for the dramatic acting or scenery.

. Seminole (1953), TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES, http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/

title/89538/seminole/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

. See Seminole, supra note 70. At least forty-four other movies, television

shows, and documentaries to date have similarly featured and have been filmed in the 1.4

million acre UNESCO World Heritage Site at the southern tip of Florida, “the largest

designated sub-tropical wilderness reserve on the North American continent.” Everglades

National Park, UNESCO, http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/76 (last visited Jan. 18, 2014); see also

Clambake, Distant Drums, Gentle Ben, Gone Fishin’, Only Fools and Horses. . . ., Stardom,

The Amazing Race, The Mean Season—Filming Locations, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/

(search “filmname”; select “filmname”; select “filming locations”) (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 35–36. Speaking of springs,

[b]eginning in 1916, when The Seven Swans was filmed in the Silver Springs area

of Central Florida, six Tarzan movies, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Rebel

Without a Cause, and Thunderball, among many movies have been filmed there, as

well as over a hundred episodes of the TV series Sea Hunt, an episode of I Spy, an

episode of Crocodile Hunter with Steve Irwin, and various vacation episodes of a

range of series.

Michael Segers, The Wild Monkeys of Central Florida, YAHOO! VOICES (June 13, 2008),

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-wild-monkeys-central-florida-1530285.html.

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 6, 36.

. Id. at 36.

. Id.

. See id. at 6, 36; Blair Davis, The 1950s B-Movie: The Economics of

Cultural Production 73 (Jan. 2007) (unpublished Ph.D. thesis, McGill University), available at

http://digitool.library.McGill.ca/webclient/streamgate?folder_id=0&dvs=1384119620758~312

; Brian Douglas, Top 10 Horror Films of the 1950s, TOPTENZ (Feb. 14, 2011), http://

www.toptenz.net/top-10-horror-fims-1950s.php. Davis noted that these three-dimensional, or

3-D, movies “utilized stereoscopic cinematography to create the illusion of greater image

depth and a spatially separated foreground, [as seen in] 3-D films such as Bwana Devil (1952),

House of Wax (1953), It Came From Outer Space (1953), and Creature From the Black

Lagoon (1954).” Davis, supra note 79, at 73. The 3-D process in Creature from the Black

Lagoon “was dubbed Thrill Wonder 3-D Horrorscope” as a bit of cinematographic hyperbole.

PONTI, supra note 11, at 35–36.

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What the terrorizing Man-Eating Gill Creature did to help the

industry, the Chairman of the Board succeeded in spoiling.

In 1959, Frank

Sinatra arrived at the Cardozo Hotel on Miami Beach.

A Hole in the Head

was the story of a widower—played by Sinatra—who had “dreams of

opening a giant . . . amusement park” in Florida.

With a star-studded cast,

including Edward G. Robinson and Keenan Wynn, the movie was sure to be

a hit, but Sinatra’s temper tantrums, dame chasing, missed appearances, and

nuisance lawsuits filed by a rival hotel brought more notoriety than good

publicity.

“[T]he film went on to win an Oscar for [Sinatra’s] song High

Hopes,” but it did not win many friends in Florida.

Florida’s courtship with the film industry definitely was not boring.

As she lured a bevy of eligible bachelors, ranging from Ol’ Blue Eyes to

Elvis Presley, she lacked any boundaries in the relationship.

She needed

rules in order to make the relationship work.

IV. FLORIDA’S ALLURING CALL REACHES NEW YORK CITY

During a brutal winter in the 1950s, twenty-seven year old James

Pergola exited his New York City apartment and looked down his street.

Two blizzards, back-to-back, had buried his car and everyone else’s, in a

pristine blanket of icy snow.

James shoveled for two days until he finally

found his car.

He proceeded to pack all of his worldly belongings and

headed south in search of sunshine, beaches, balmy breezes, and a job.

James had apprenticed under Jack Painter, A.S.C.—the American

Society of Cinematographers—a world-renowned New York cameraman in

the New York local union of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage

. PONTI, supra note 11 at 6, 63.

. Id. at 63.

. Id.

. Id. at 63–64.

. Id. at 64.

. See PONTI, supra note 11 at 2–3.

. See id. at 2–6, 63–64.

. See id.

. Interview with James C. Pergola (Sept. 1, 2012) (on file with Nova

Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center Library). Pergola worked in the film and

television industry for fifty years. Id. He shot the original pilot episode of Baywatch for NBC

and continued as both a Producer and the Director of Photography of the television series for

ten years. Id. He retired after the conclusion of the final episode of Baywatch in 1999. Id.

For a time, Baywatch was the number one syndicated television show in the world. Id.

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

. Id.

. See id.

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Employees (“IATSE”).

James took his union card with him, which would

entitle him to work as an assistant cameraman in Florida and earn a lucrative

salary of $400 to $500 per week; but, that was contingent upon the work

available in Florida at the time.

His departure surprised everyone and,

much to the dismay of his colleagues in New York, James left.

James was

the number one camera assistant in New York; he was making top dollar and

had a sterling reputation based on his incredible work ethic and talent, but

something was calling him, luring him to Florida.

He remembered that his

father, Jimmy V. Pergola, had worked in Florida in the 1920s and 1930s

shooting newsreel movie shorts and had also worked on one of bathing

beauty Esther Williams’ aqua ballets in Miami Beach.

What followed James to Miami was an enormous influx of talent and

the explosive growth of the Florida film industry.

James had heard the

siren call from the waves off the shore of that lush tropical paradise.

that time, Miami had only one Florida-based assistant cameraman and his

name was Eddie Gibson.

When James Pergola arrived in Miami, the total

number of Florida film industry, union-card-carrying, New York trained,

assistant cameramen doubled to two.

100

Gibson did not mind Pergola’s

entrance into Miami at all.

101

He respected James immensely.

102

James

Pergola and Eddie Gibson’s fathers had been great friends that worked

together on covering the Cuban Revolution, Mussolini’s rise to power in

Italy, and the hottest car races in Daytona Beach.

103

The friendship between Eddie Gibson’s father and James Pergola’s

father abruptly ended on October 17, 1937.

104

Veteran Pathé News and Fox

Movietone News cameraman Jimmy V. Pergola was killed when a United

Airlines “Mainliner . . . crashed . . . into . . . Hayden Peak, high in the Uinta

. Id.

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

. Id.

. See Life on the American Newsfront: Worst Air Crash in U.S. History

Takes 19 Lives, LIFE, Nov. 1, 1937, at 32, 38; Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

. See Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

. See id.

. Id.

100

. Id.

101

. Id.

102

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

103

. Id.

104

. See Life on the American Newsfront: Worst Air Crash in U.S. History

Takes 19 Lives, supra note 96, at 38; James Pergola, Father’s Footsteps: Becoming a

Filmmaker Like His Father, NAPLESNEWS.COM (June 21, 2009), http://www.naplesnews.com/

news/2009/jun/21/fathers-footsteps-becoming-filmmaker-his-father/?print=1.

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54 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

Range” resulting in the worst air crash in U.S. history.

105

He was shooting a

newsreel story entitled, The Safety of Transcontinental Flying.

106

This left

young James with only memories of his dad, now a legend, but he was

embraced by all who had known and worked with his father.

107

Florida

opened her arms as well.

108

V. MESMERIZING MIAMI

By the 1950s and early 1960s, Miami had reached international

recognition as a thriving hub for both television and film.

109

Paul Newman

and Joanne Woodward sizzled in The Long, Hot Summer (1958) and Elvis

Presley raised the temperature in the Sunshine State in Follow That Dream

(1962).

110

From 1966 to 1970, Jackie Gleason filmed his eponymous Jackie

Gleason Show in Miami.

111

From short comedy and melodrama to dramatic

action, the James Bond series thriller Goldfinger (1964) featured luxurious

shots of Millionaire’s Row located at the Morris Lapidus-designed

Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

112

105

. Life on the American Newsfront: Worst Air Crash in U.S. History Takes

19 Lives, supra note 96, at 38.

106

. Id.

107

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88; see also Pergola, supra

note 104.

108

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88; see also Pergola, supra

note 104.

109

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 6.

110

. See Follow That Dream, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055992/

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014); The Long, Hot Summer, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/

tt0051878/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

111

. The Jackie Gleason Show, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0195466/

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

112

. GOLDFINGER (Eon Productions 1964); see also Overview, FONTAINEBLEAU

MIAMI BEACH, www.fontainebleau.com/web/about_bleau (last visited Jan. 18, 2014). Some

161 road miles and a world apart from Miami, Key West was the film site for a sizeable

portion of another Bond film. See Licence to Kill, IMDB,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097742/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2014). Just ninety-seven road

miles north of Key West lies the island that gained fame as the setting for the 1948 film Key

Largo; apart from background filming used for establishing shots, however, the film was shot

on a Warner Brothers sound stage in Hollywood. See Key Largo–Filming Locations, IMDB,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040506/locations (last visited Jan. 18, 2014). Although not a

filming location for the 1951 Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart movie, The African Queen,

Key Largo is also home port to a newly restored 100-year-old riverboat figuring prominently

in the movie’s plot and after which the movie was named. See The African Queen Sets Sail

Again, CBSNEWS (Apr. 13, 2012, 3:23 PM), http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-

57413816-10391698/the-african-queen-sets-sail-again/.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 55

Elsewhere in Miami, Ivan Tors Studios was producing Flipper and

Gentle Ben, two of the hottest prime time shows on television.

113

Ivan was

born in Budapest in 1916 and immigrated to the United States just prior to

World War II.

114

He produced the smash hit motion picture Flipper for

MGM and the film grossed over $23 million.

115

To put this success in

perspective, MGM had produced Mutiny on the Bounty, starring Marlon

Brando, that same year, and Mutiny lost $23 million at the box office.

116

“The television series Flipper [aired] on Saturday night[s] at 7:30

p.m.” on CBS and was the number one show on television; it upstaged The

Jackie Gleason Show, which had to be moved to a later time slot in order to

survive.

117

That friendly dolphin, along with Ranger Porter Ricks and his

sons, Sandy and Bud, turned all eyes to Miami, Florida.

118

Luke Halpin, who

played teen heartthrob Sandy, was featured on the cover of the debut issue of

Tiger Beat magazine in September 1965, sending millions of teenage girls to

the newsstands and making the fictitious town of Coral Key Park their dream

destination.

119

Today, at fifty years and counting, the ripple effect of

Flipper’s success is still impacting Florida.

120

The Miami Seaquarium still

boasts “[television] [s]uperstar Flipper and his Atlantic bottlenose dolphin

friends” in their daily live show Flipper’s Beach Bash.

121

Prior to this huge

boon, friendly Florida provided the gorgeous scenery, but only to local

craftsmen.

122

The keys—or team-leaders of the various crews—were still

being sent down from New York or east from California.

123

The key-

electricians and key-grips brought their top assistants with them from New

York City or Hollywood, “and hired locals for the third or fourth

113

. PONTI, supra note 11, at 6; see Flipper, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/

tt0057748/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2014); Gentle Ben, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/

tt0061255/ (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

114

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

115

. Id.

116

. Id.; Mutiny on the Bounty, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056264/

?ref_=fn_al_tt_1 (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

117

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88; see also Paul Mavis,

Flipper—The Original Series: Season One, DVD TALK (Apr. 24, 2007), http://

www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/27578/flipper-the-original-series-season-one/.

118

. About Us: History, MIAMI SEAQUARIUM, http://

www.miamiseaquarium.com/AboutUs/History (last visited Jan. 18, 2014); Flipper, supra note

113.

119

. See The Things That Flip “Flipper’s” Friend Luke Halpin!, LLOYD

THAXTON’S TIGER, Sept. 1965, at 48, 49; see also Flipper, supra note 113.

120

. About Us: History, supra note 118.

121

. Flipper Dolphin, MIAMI SEAQUARIUM, http://www.miamiseaquarium.com/

Explore/Shows/Flipper-Dolphin (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

122

. See Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

123

. Id.

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56 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

electrician,” camera, grip, or set construction positions.

124

James Pergola

was quickly hired for his expertise and worked under camera operators and

directors of photography from California.

125

As a result of this symbiotic

relationship, the local Florida crews became highly skilled technicians,

having trained under the best teachers in the industry.

126

It was not long

before Florida was boasting that it could provide everything a movie

company needed without shipping in entire crews from Los Angeles and

New York.

127

By the mid-1960s, “Hollywood was happy to come” to

Miami, Florida.

128

There were enough set builders, art directors, soundmen,

camera crews, and equipment to fully stock two films simultaneously.

129

Meanwhile, back in New York City, the movie industry was

dying.

130

The unions in New York “had gotten so demanding and difficult

that New York [p]roducers went to Los Angeles.”

131

There was a mass

exodus from New York, formerly the television capital of the world, to

California.

132

In order to stop this crippling flight, “New York Mayor, [John]

Lindsay, came up with the Lindsay Plan.”

133

He instituted a plan that he

hoped would enable filmmakers to easily tour locations, have access to fire

and police, shoot in museums and government buildings, and secure permits

quickly and easily.

134

Mayor Lindsay “made deals with the [International

Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees] (“IATSE”) to hold costs down” and

forced them to make sacrifices—no more Triple Golden Time.

135

New York

was forced to mend fences and cooperate with the film and television

industry.

136

They had to rebuild their relationship from the ground up.

137

124

. Id.

125

. See id.

126

. Id.

127

. See Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

128

. Id.

129

. Id.

130

. Id.

131

. Id.

132

. LYNN SPIGEL, TV BY DESIGN: MODERN ART AND THE RISE OF NETWORK

TELEVISION 138 (2008); Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

133

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

134

. See id.; The City of N.Y.C. Mayor’s Office of Media & Entm’t, Office

History, NYC, http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/about/office-history.shtml (last visited Jan.

18, 2014); see also James Sanders, Adventure Playground: John V. Lindsay and the

Transformation of Modern New York, DESIGN OBSERVER GROUP (May 4, 2010),

http://places.designobserver.com/feature/adventure-playground--john-v-lindsay-and-the-

transformation-of-modern-new-york/13338/.

135

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

136

. See The City of N.Y.C Mayor’s Office of Media & Entm’t, supra note

134.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 57

As they watched the painful destruction of such a storied and

honored industry in the Empire State, the filmmakers and television

craftsmen in Florida took action.

138

Greed could have easily destroyed them,

too, and then everything they had built would have crumble. James Pergola

met with the producers, directors, and government agencies in Florida, and

all agreed that it was necessary to use the same idea in Miami.

139

James met

with the Stage Hands local and every other specialty union from Miami to

Tampa, in order to get a consensus.

140

It took over three months to come up

with the Florida Standard Agreement.

141

The Standard Agreement contract fixed the start time, end time, and

realistic overtime wages within all the unions across the state.

142

“‘I sent

every producer in the country, in concert with [the] business agents, this

standard agreement,’” explained Pergola.

143

“As films and television shows

came in to Florida, they used our Standard Agreement.”

144

Pergola and his

crew formed The Florida Motion Picture and Television Association

(“FMPTA”), which grew to seven chapters by the end of the 1970s.

145

The

FMPTA wanted to influence the governor.

146

Governor Reubin Askew

needed to have a hard sell.

147

Unfortunately, Deep Throat and other

pornographic films were being shot in Florida,

148

and the Governor was

137

. See Remembering Steve D’Inzillo, IATSE (Oct. 20, 2000), http://

www.iatse-intl.org/news/remembering-steve-dinzillo; see also The City of N.Y.C. Mayor’s

Office of Media & Entm’t, supra note 134.

138

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

139

. Id.

140

. Id.

141

. Id.

142

. Id.

143

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

144

. Id. Not to be confused with the Jacksonville, FL newspaper Florida

Standard. See, e.g., Florida Newspapers, FLA. ST. U. LIBR., http://guides.lib.fsu.edu/

content.php?pid=46594&sid=343596 (last updated Nov. 26, 2013).

145

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

146

. See id.; Florida’s Entertainment Industry Success Is Counting on YOU!!!,

FLA. MOTION PICTURE & TELEVISION ASS’N, http://www.fmpta-mo.com/Home_Page.html (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014) (explaining both the mission and composition of the association).

FMPTA is still very much active today. Florida’s Entertainment Industry Success Is

Counting on YOU!!!, supra note 146. For the past thirty-nine years, FMPTA has been a vital

part of the motion picture and television industry in Florida. Id. FMPTA is organized to

promote Florida’s “motion picture, television, audio recording, theater, and digital media”

industries, by providing assistance and information to all interested organizations in regards to

Florida’s skilled personnel, locations, services and fiscal incentives. Id.

147

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

148

. Id.; Kyle Munzenrieder, Coconut Grove Mansion Where Deep Throat’s

Most Infamous Scenes Were Filmed is For Sale, MIAMI NEWTIMES (May 2, 2012, 1:28 PM),

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2012/05/coconut_grove_mansion_where_de.php.

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58 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

apprehensive about supporting filmmaking in the Sunshine State.

149

It was

not until July 1, 1973, that the new Florida Film Coordinator, Sunny Fader,

was appointed to change Florida’s filmmaking opportunities and image for

the better with a modest $50,000 budget.

150

The Governor also assigned a man named Ben Harris who was

instrumental in the formation of the FMPTA and “ran the nationally envied

Florida Film Bureau out of the state’s Department of Commerce.”

151

Harris

explained that the group would have to show the Governor that the Florida

film industry was economically beneficial to the state of Florida.

152

And so it

did.

153

The group compiled data and appealed to the Governor to supply

government assistance to this viable industry.

154

Through the ease of

obtaining permits, use of state facilities, access to the Florida Highway

Patrol, ability to block off and use state roads, and developing liaisons and

healthy relationships with the administrative agencies in Tallahassee—as

well as county and city governments—the relationship would thrive.

155

The Governor agreed and the Florida Film Commission was born.

156

James Pergola and his dedicated group deeply believed they had “[a]

sleeping giant just waiting to be awakened,” and by all indications, they were

right.

157

As with any love story, there are periods of time when lovers may

quarrel and stop speaking

158

—possibly because there has been a

misunderstanding or because one of them has taken the other for granted.

159

In any event, the relationship between Florida and the film industry is a

relationship that has withstood the tests of time, and has survived undulating

periods of undying support and unchivalrous repudiation.

160

149

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

150

. Fred Wright, State Urged to Lure Film-Makers, EVENING INDEPENDENT,

May 31, 1973, at 5B, available at http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=

19730531&id=0n1QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9lcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7236,5206907.

151

. Jack Zink, Film Wars Solution: Rewind, SUN-SENTINEL, May 23, 1999, at

1D; see also Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

152

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

153

. See id.

154

. Id.

155

. Id.

156

. Id.

157

. Interview with James C. Pergola, supra note 88.

158

. See id.

159

. See id.

160

. See id.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 59

VI. THE GIANT AWAKENS TO CONCEIVE A NEW FILM LAW AND

COUNCIL

The Florida Film & Entertainment Advisory Council was formed

as a result of legislation signed into law by [then] Governor Jeb

Bush, July 1, 1999. Created in accordance with Chapter 288.1252

of the Florida Statutes, the . . . Council consists of [seventeen]

members, seven appointed by the Governor, five appointed by the

President of the Senate, and five appointed by the Speaker of the

House of Representatives.

161

The Florida Office of Film and Entertainment (“OFE”) notes that,

“[t]he Film Commissioner, a representative of Enterprise Florida, Inc., a

representative of Workforce Florida, Inc., and a representative of the Florida

Tourism Industry Marketing Corporation (Visit Florida) serve as ex officio,

nonvoting members of the council, and are in addition to the [seventeen]

appointed members of the Council.”

162

Aside from the very significant

changes to law and bureaucracy intended to grow Florida’s connections to

the film industry, Governor Bush also endorsed a five-hundred-page Film

Florida Production Guide, produced in 2003.

163

The guide provides a “direct

link to more than [forty] local film offices throughout the state—from

Pensacola to Key West” and lists “producers, post-production facilities,

crews, studios, equipment, support services, government assistance,

associations, and accommodations . . . all over Florida.”

164

Governor Bush

stated, “[t]he Sunshine State’s entertainment industry has grown over the

past decade for one reason: [P]roducers find everything they need in

Florida.”

165

161

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Film & Entertainment

Advisory Council, FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com/about/feac.asp (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014) [hereinafter The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Film &

Entertainment Advisory Council]; see also FLA. STAT. § 288.1252 (2013). See supra notes

150, 156, and accompanying text for previous commentary about the role of the Florida Film

Coordinator, as well as the Florida Film Commission.

162

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Film & Entertainment

Advisory Council, supra note 161.

163

. Letter from Jeb Bush, Governor of Fla., to Friends, (Jan. 2003) (on file

with Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center Library); Letter from the Staff

of the Governor’s Office of Film & Entm’t, Office of the Governor of Fla., to Friends (Jan.

2003) (on file with Nova Southeastern University, Shepard Broad Law Center Library); see

also FILM FLORIDA PRODUCTION GUIDE, supra note 44.

164

. Letter from Jeb Bush to Friends, supra note 163.

165

. Id.

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60 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

The Staff of the Governor’s OFE queries, “[s]ound like a production

paradise? It is. From any angle.”

166

The Governor’s OFE is committed to

the mission of functioning as “an effective link between industry and all

levels of government to improve the business climate for the growth and

expansion of the entertainment industry in Florida.”

167

The mission includes

accountability, innovation, partnering, and “strategic focus to capitalize on

[the] opportunities . . . that set Florida apart from the rest of the world.”

168

In order to encourage success at every level, Florida has instituted

major incentives for filmmaking, and empowered administrative agencies to

implement them.

169

Introduction of legislation that benefits filmmakers—as

well as easy to use permitting forms, and an abundance of grants and

assistance—have contributed to the overwhelming success of the film

industry in Florida.

170

VII. FLORIDA PROPOSES WITH TAX INCENTIVES AND THE FILM

INDUSTRY SAYS, “I DO!”

In May of 2010, Governor Charlie Christ “inked legislation that

create[d] a five-year, $242 million transferable tax credit for the state’s film

and entertainment industry.”

171

Qualified “projects . . . receive a rebate of

20% to 30% on qualified Florida expenditures.”

172

There is “an $8 million

cap for major productions.”

173

The tax exemption “allocates a 5% bonus for

family-friendly projects and an additional 5% for activity taking place during

hurricane season.”

174

166

. Letter from the Staff of the Governor’s Office of Film & Entm’t to

Friends, supra note 163.

167

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Vision & Mission,

FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://filminflorida.com/about/vm.asp (last visited Jan. 18, 2014)

[hereinafter The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Vision & Mission].

168

. Id.

169

. Rebecca Martel Koegel, Florida’s Financial Incentive Program Lures

Film & Entertainment Production to the State with Good Ol’ Cash, BRIEFS, Mar. 2008, at 15,

15–16, available at http://www.hklaw.com/files/Publication/fc1af85a-869e-43f2-9b87-

98c071ceb2e7/Presentation/PublicationAttachment/a75426cd-5cc2-4b27-85f7-

014a855657a0/51905.PDF.

170

. See id.

171

. Peter Caranicas, Florida OKs Tax Breaks for Film, TV, VARIETY (June 2,

2010, 5:00 AM), http://www.variety.com/2010/film/news/florida-oks-tax-breaks-for-film-tv-

1118020076/.

172

. Id.

173

. Id.

174

. Id.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 61

“[This] program covers [both] in-state and out-of-state productions .

. . .”

175

It also benefits post-production and digital productions.

176

The

governor “authorize[d] $53.5 million in transferable tax credits for the 2010–

[20]11 fiscal year.”

177

The total increased to $74.5 million for 2011–2012.

178

Suzy Spang, Vice President of the Metro Orlando Film and Entertainment

Commission, explained, “‘[w]e never knew from one year to the next what

the rebate would be. . . . This stabilizes everything.’”

179

The impact of these

tax incentives has far ranging implications from Los Angeles, California to

little towns in Florida.

180

When Warner Brothers executives were budgeting for the hit “rock

musical Rock of Ages, with Tom Cruise, there was no doubt that [the film

would be shot] in Los Angeles . . . where the story is set.”

181

But, as the

budgeting process began, producers were scanning the country, even the

world, “tabulating tax credits and exchange rates.”

182

Producers looked from

Sydney to Louisiana before settling on Miami, Florida; but they had to

transform Miami into “Reagan-era [1980s] rock ‘n’ roll Hollywood.”

183

“‘We needed to reroute traffic, turn a one-way street into a two-way street,

repaint lines and put up traffic signs,’ sa[id] producer Garrett Grant, ‘and the

city was just fantastic, along with the State of Florida, making sure we got

everything we needed.’”

184

While Florida’s climate, topography, and architecture convincingly

doubled for Los Angeles, what “sealed the deal was the state’s production

incentive, which offer[ed] a [twenty percent] base tax credit on in-state

spend[ing], capped at [eight] million [dollars] per production, with [an]

additional [five percent] . . . for shooting . . . off-season.”

185

The potential

was a total of thirty percent.

186

The tax incentives caused an infusion of projects into Florida.

187

The

abundance of work came in the “nick of time for local film and [television]

175

. Id.

176

. Caranicas, supra note 171.

177

. Id.

178

. Id.

179

. Id.

180

. See Todd Longwell, Sun Shines, Taxes Fall, Biz Rocks, VARIETY (Dec. 16,

2011, 4:00 AM), http://variety.com/2011/film/news/sun-shines-taxes-fall-biz-rocks-

1118045382/.

181

. Id.

182

. Id.

183

. Id.

184

. Id.

185

. Longwell, supra note 180.

186

. Id.

187

. Id.

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62 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

workers who [were] underemployed or idle.”

188

“[C]ostume supervisor

Emae Villalobos, a [twenty-five]-year veteran of the [movie] biz, [said], ‘I

was thinking of getting out of the business completely and going into

retail.’”

189

But, then the incentives kicked in, and she was inundated with

work for A&E network, including the show The Glades, and movies such as

Dolphin Tale and Rock of Ages.

190

Despite the overwhelming success of the tax incentives, there was an

amendment that went into effect on July 1, 2011.

191

It mandated that “no

more than [twenty-five percent of] its funds go to high-impact television

shows.”

192

Although certain series were “grandfathered in through 2015, [it

left little room] for any major new series or pilots.”

193

In true Floridian form, Film Florida representatives volunteered to

take legislators on a detailed tour of Florida film and television sets.

194

Their

goal was to make certain that all members of Florida’s Congress thoroughly

understood the significant domino effect of Florida’s film industry.

195

“‘They were blown away by how many people were employed and the

amount of construction materials used,’ sa[id] Sandy Lighterman, [F]ilm and

[E]ntertainment [I]ndustr[y] [L]iaison for Miami-Dade County. ‘Hopefully,

they [will see] those images in their minds at the next legislative session.’”

196

In addition to monetary incentives, the State of Florida is committed

to assisting filmmakers through various administrative agencies.

197

The

Florida Department of Environmental Protection (“FDEP”) was instrumental

in the production of Basic, starring John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson in

2003.

198

“‘When a . . . set is doubled to look like another area of the country,

or the world, for that matter, attention to detail is paramount,’ said [Basic]

188

. Id.

189

. Id.

190

. Longwell, supra note 180.

191

. Compare FLA. STAT. § 288.1254(4)(b)(1)(b) (2010) (current version at

FLA. STAT. § 288.1254 (2013)), with FLA. STAT. § 288.1254(4)(b)(1)(b) (2011) (current

version at FLA. STAT. § 288.1254 (2013)). See also Longwell, supra note 180.

192

. Longwell, supra note 180.

193

. Id. (emphasis added).

194

. Id.

195

. See id.

196

. Id.

197

. See Bashirah Muttalib, Reeling in the Sunshine State, VARIETY (Mar. 4,

2009, 7:08 PM), http://www.variety.com/2009/film/news/reeling-in-the-sunshine-state-

1118000858/.

198

. See id.; Basic, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264395/ (last visited

Jan. 18, 2014).

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 63

location manager Mitch Harbeson,” who made the former Naval Air Station

at Cecil Field stand in for Panama.

199

After the tragedy of 9/11, the Basic location crew had to refocus and

change their international settings to domestic.

200

The plot demanded a

location that would allow “several months of filming machine gun firefight

scenes” amidst special effects created to produce a hurricane—all without

disturbing the peace or alarming local residents.

201

Florida saved the day and

provided paradise for the filmmakers.

202

While working in the Florida

wetlands, near Jacksonville, the team worked night hours.

203

They had to

build “a road that would surround the set and was also strong enough to

support production trucks during Florida’s heavy rainfall.”

204

“‘We had to be

very careful how this road was cut into the dense tropical vegetation and

forest,’ said Harbeson. ‘Prevention of senseless tree cutting and trimming

had to balance with a road designed not to impact camera sight lines during

filming.’”

205

“To create . . . jungles, . . . the team placed 120 truckloads of

dirt into the area . . . and added two truckloads of plant[s] . . . .”

206

“‘This was only permitted by the [FDEP] because of my guarantee

that I would not introduce foreign soil or water into the area and that it would

be brought back to its original condition, within an inch,’ Harbeson

explained.”

207

Based on his relationship with the FDEP and their past

experience working together, Harbeson was confident that “all would go as

planned.”

208

Years later, Harbeson returned to scout locations for a new HBO

project.

209

Navigating these locations would “require[] the assistance of the

199

. Muttalib, supra note 197. Other Jacksonville, Florida films not already

mentioned include, but are not limited to: Brenda Starr, Forces of Nature, G.I. Jane, Like

Dandelion Dust, Lonely Hearts, Sunshine State, The Devil’s Advocate, The Manchurian

Candidate, The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking, Tigerland, & Why Do Fools Fall in

Love—Filming Locations, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/ (search “film name”; select “film

name”; select “filming locations”) (last visited Jan. 18, 2014); Projects Filmed in Jacksonville,

OFFICIAL WEBSITE CITY JACKSONVILLE, http://www.coj.net/departments/office-of-economic-

development/film-and-television/projects-filmed-in-jacksonville.aspx (last visited Jan. 18,

2014).

200

. Muttalib, supra note 197.

201

. Id.

202

. See id.

203

. Id.

204

. Id.

205

. Muttalib, supra note 197.

206

. Id.

207

. Id.

208

. Id. (emphasis added).

209

. Id.

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64 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

supervisor of elections, committee leaders, the governor, and [the] mayor.”

210

Towards the end, Harbeson observed that “‘[r]egardless of what jersey [they]

wore, [whether] Democrat or Republican, Floridians wanted to be a part of

this film and represented the film well.’”

211

Florida’s dedication to the film

industry has moved the love affair into a profitable, deeply committed

marriage of sorts.

212

And this marriage has been blessed with fertility.

213

Their Florida-born progeny will leave a legacy for generations.

214

VIII. FLORIDA’S FILM INDUSTRY PRODUCES PROGENY

“In the summer of 1980, a group of overeducated, authority-defying

comedy writers from the Second City improv[isation] troupe and National

Lampoon magazine delivered perhaps the funniest sports movie ever

made.”

215

Caddyshack was born.

216

Over the past thirty years, the low-

budget $6 million movie has generated over $20 million in video and DVD

rentals, $40 million in sales at the box office, and a place on American Film

Institute’s (“AFI”) top one hundred funniest American movies of all time—

with the special effects talents of George Lucas and other talented producers

and directors enhancing the eleven-week shoot.

217

Caddyshack is

particularly memorable, amongst other reasons, for Davie’s gorgeous golf

greens,

218

Key Biscayne’s blue yachting waters, and, not to mention, some of

the funniest lines in film history.

219

210

. Muttalib, supra note 197.

211

. Id.

212

. See FLA. DEP’T OF ECON. OPPORTUNITY & OFFICE OF FILM & ENTM’T,

FISCAL YEAR 2011/2012 FILM AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FINANCIAL INCENTIVE

PERFORMANCE REPORT 2–3, 10 (2012), available at http://www.filminflorida.com/ifi/PDFs/

annualReports/Entertainment%20Industry%20Financial%20Incentive%20Annual%20Report

%202011%202012.pdf.

213

. See id. at 2–3.

214

. See id. at 9–11.

215

. Chris Nashawaty, Caddyshack, SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, Aug. 2–9, 2010, at

64, 64, available at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1172571/

index.htm.

216

. CADDYSHACK (Orion Pictures 1980).

217

. AMERICAN FILM INST., AFI’S 100 YEARS 100 LAUGHS: AMERICA’S

FUNNIEST MOVIES (2002), available at http://www.afi.com/docs/100years/laughs500.pdf;

Caddyshack—Box Office/Business, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080487/business (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014); see also Nashawaty, supra note 215, at 64, 72. Specifically, the

animatronic gopher—with the same sound effects voice as Flipper, no less—was created at

Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic (“ILM”). Nashawaty, supra note 215, at 72; Caddyshack—

Trivia, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080487/trivia (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

218

. On Location . . . Caddyshack Filming Locations, ‘80S MOVIES REWIND,

http://www.fast-rewind.com/locations_caddyshack.htm (last visited Jan. 18, 2014). Although

“[t]he gates to the country club where Danny rides his bike [in] the opening” scene were

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 65

In addition to the aforementioned comedies, the AFI compilation of

the top one hundred funniest American movies also includes another Florida

sibling from 1994: Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.

220

Ace Ventura—played by

Jim Carrey—is a private detective who is hired when the Miami Dolphins’

mascot, Snowflake, the bottle-nosed dolphin, is kidnapped.

221

Ace embarks

on a veritable tour of Miami and Collier County as he searches for clues to

the kidnapper’s identity and Snowflake’s location.

222

Ace Ventura grossed

over $12 million when released in theatres the first weekend.

223

With a

production budget of $12 million,

224

the film went on to gross over $107

million worldwide.

225

Former Miami Dolphins’ quarterback Dan Marino,

Courtney Cox, and Tone Loc helped to make Ace Ventura a splashing

success, as priceless gems of dialogue flowed from Jim Carey’s lips.

226

Caddyshack and Ace Ventura were not award winning for acting or

cinematography, but are excellent examples of small budget Florida films

with major impact.

227

Together, grossing over $100 million at the box office

filmed in Bel Air, California on Sunset Boulevard, “Caddyshack was filmed on location at the

Boca Raton Hotel [and] Country Club, Boca Raton and The Rolling Hills Golf & Tennis Club,

Davie, Florida.” Id. “The pool scene was filmed at the Plantation Preserve Golf Course in

Plantation, [Florida]” and clubhouse scenes at Rolling Hills. Id. “The yacht club scene was

filmed at the Rusty Pelican Restaurant . . . [in] Key Biscayne, . . . Florida.” Id.

219

. See CADDYSHACK, supra note 216. For example, the line uttered by Carl

the greens keeper: “On your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So I got that

going for me, which is nice.” Id. Another nice—but some would argue utterly forgettable—

movie made in St. Petersburg was Summer Rental, a 1985 comedy film directed by Carl

Reiner, starring John Candy. Summer Rental, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090098/

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014). It was filmed in St. Petersburg Beach near St. Petersburg, and

includes as part of its soundtrack one of the only Jimmy Buffett songs which is impossible to

get on iTunes or in any legitimate—non-bootleg—album: “Turn It Around.” See Mikey

Hersh, Out There!: “Turning Around” by Jimmy Buffet, MISENPOPIC (Jan. 2, 2010), http://

misenpopic.blogspot.com/2010/01/out-there-turning-around-by-jimmy.html; Summer

Rental—Filming Locations, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090098/locations (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014).

220

. AMERICAN FILM INST., supra note 217; Ace Ventura: Pet Detective,

IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109040 (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

221

. ACE VENTURA: PET DETECTIVE (Warner Bros. Pictures 1994).

222

. See id.

223

. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective—Box Office/Business, IMDB, http://

www.imdb.com/title/tt0109040/business (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

224

. Id.

225

. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, NUMBERS, http://www.the-numbers.com/

movies/1994/0ACV1.php (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

226

. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, supra note 220.

227

. See PHYLLIS K. POOLEY, HAAS CTR. FOR BUS. RESEARCH & ECON. DEV.,

UNIV. OF W. FLA., ANALYSIS OF THE FLORIDA FILM AND ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY 179

(2009), available at http://www.filminflorida.com/docs/pdf/

Analysis%20of%20the%20Florida%20Film%20and%20Entertainment%20Industry.pdf; Ace

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66 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

and landing on AFI’s top one hundred funniest films of all time are

accomplishments that any parent could be proud of.

228

And the dolphin does it again.

229

A 2012 study conducted by the

University of South Florida College of Business shows that the little Florida

movie “Dolphin Tale, which was shot on location in Pinellas County and

produced a direct local economic impact of more than $18 million during the

three-month shoot alone,” is set to generate “an economic impact of $580

million in 2013.”

230

In addition to Pinellas County’s St.

Petersburg/Clearwater Film Commission assessment,

231

the University of

South Florida report shows the far-reaching impact of the film across all

sectors of Florida’s economy, but especially in Clearwater, and most directly

at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, where Winter, the dolphin star,

resides.

232

The film has generated jobs and increased tourism, with a

forecasted 2.3 million visitors to the St. Petersburg/Clearwater area and to

the Aquarium in 2016.

233

The economic impact of these visitors totals $5

billion to the Florida economy

234

including actual on location vacation

tourism around Florida and those pursuing cast extra opportunities.

235

Ventura: Pet Detective—Box Office/Business, supra note 223; Caddyshack—Box

Office/Business, supra note 217.

228

. AMERICAN FILM INST., supra note 217; Ace Ventura: Pet Detective—Box

Office/Business, supra note 223; Caddyshack—Box Office/Business, supra note 217. And if

grossing over $40 million dollars is not honor enough, Caddyshack prominently appears in a

law review article entitled Lightning: A Double Hit for Golf Course Operators, by Michael

Flynn, quoting Carl Spackler—in the middle of a torrential thunder and lightning storm—“‘I’d

keep playing, I don’t think the heavy stuff is going to come down for quite a while.’ The

Bishop responded, ‘you’re right, anyway the good Lord would never disrupt the best game of

my life.’ The Bishop was then struck down by lightning.” Michael Flynn, Lightning: A

Double Hit for Golf Course Operators, 6 MARQUETTE SPORTS L.J. 133, 134–35 n.11 (1995)

(quoting CADDYSHACK, supra note 216).

229

. See Study: ‘Dolphin Tale’ Creates Millions in Economic Impact, TAMPA

BAY BUS. J. (Aug. 16, 2012, 2:07 PM), http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2012/08/

16/study-dolphin-tale-creates.html.

230

. Id.; VISIT ST. PETE CLEARWATER, PINELLAS CNTY. GOV’T, 2013 VISIT ST.

PETE/CLEARWATER ANNUAL PLAN 9 (2013), available at http://www.pinellascvb.com/files/

2013_visit_st._petersburg_clearwater_annual_plan(reduced).pdf.

231

. VISIT ST. PETE CLEARWATER, supra note 230, at 9.

232

. MARIA LUISA CORTON & MALING EBRAHIMPOUR, UNIV. OF S. FLA., THE

ECONOMIC IMPACT OF DOLPHIN TALE: ON THE ST. PETERSBURG/CLEARWATER LOCAL ECONOMY

2 (2012).

233

. Id.

234

. Study: ‘Dolphin Tale’ Creates Millions in Economic Impact, supra note

229.

235

. See CORTON & EBRAHIMPOUR, supra note 232, at 2; ‘Chu and Blossom’

Needs Extras in Largo, FL This Weekend, OLV (Aug. 18, 2012),

www.onlocationvacations.com/2012/08/18/chu-and-blossom-needs-extras-in-largo-fl-this-

weekend/.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 67

One of the longest running, if not most flattering, depictions of

Miami in film or television, were “[t]he adventures of the vice squad

detectives of the Miami Police Department,” as portrayed over seven seasons

from 1984 through 1990 in Miami Vice, and the movie adaptation by the

same name in 2006.

236

This “massively successful national and international

hit” featured “[t]he Art Deco buildings of South Beach . . . as a backdrop for

much of the show,” the plot “glamorized the very real crime problems the

area was suffering, and city officials were concerned about the image it was

giving of their community.”

237

As tourists came to visit the exotic splendor

of the series’ locations and other Miami area movies and television shows,

238

businesses invested more in renovating South Beach and city leaders

increased law enforcement vigilance.

239

By 2008, “[t]he Art Deco District

and South Beach were the top tourist attractions in Miami-Dade County . . .

visited by nearly 52% of its 12 million visitors.”

240

During a fourteen year

period “[f]rom 1995–2009, these visitors to Miami Beach spent . . . $15

billion for food, drinks and lodging, with historic South Beach [accounting

for] nearly 75% of [that] spending.”

241

IX. FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY IN THE 21ST CENTURY

More than any other time in filmmaking history, the latter portions

of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries were marked by the

cinematographic equivalent of outsourcing, also known in the film industry

as runaway productions.

242

This term describes filmmaking and television

productions that are “intended for initial release/exhibition or television

236

. Miami Vice (1984–1990), IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086759/

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014); Miami Vice (2006), IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430357/

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

237

. Jedediah Drolet et al., Chapter Seven: South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida

Case Study: Synthesis of Historic Preservation and Economic Development, in ECONOMIC

IMPACTS OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION UPDATE 2010 83, 96–97 (2010), available at http://

mimoonthebeach.com/pdfs/South%20Beach%20Economic%20Case%20Study.pdf.

238

. Id. at 97; see also Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, The Bird Cage, & True Lies—

Filming Locations, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/ (search “film name”; select “film name”;

select “filming locations”) (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

239

. See Drolet et al., supra note 237, at 96–97.

240

. Id. at foreword.

241

. Id.

242

. See STEPHEN M. KATZ, CTR. FOR ENTM’T INDUS. DATA & RESEARCH, THE

GLOBAL SUCCESS OF PRODUCTION TAX INCENTIVES AND THE MIGRATION OF FEATURE FILM

PRODUCTION FROM THE U.S. TO THE WORLD: YEAR 2005 PRODUCTION REPORT 1–2 (Mark A.

Rosenthal ed., 2006), available at http://www.ceidr.org/2005CEIDRReport.pdf; SCREEN

ACTORS GUILD & DIRS. GUILD OF AM., U.S. RUNAWAY FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION

STUDY REPORT 2 (n.d.), available at http://www.hhill.org/images/uploads/monitor_report.pdf.

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68 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

broadcast in the U.S., but are actually filmed in another country.”

243

Hardly

a new complaint in the media industry, film crews often “left Los Angeles to

shoot in exotic [often overseas] locales—creative runaways—but in the

1970s and 1980s, technological changes related to the advent of television

production methods made filmmaking more mobile.”

244

In some instances,

the choice to produce creative runaways was based on requirements of the

script, setting, or due to preferences of the actors or director.

245

Alternatively, economic runaways are and have been productions made in

other countries to reduce costs.

246

For instance, in 2002, only one of the five

Best Picture nominees, The Hours, for that year’s Academy Awards was shot

in Hollywood—Hollywood, Florida, that is.

247

The United States Federal Government and many states, including

Florida, recognized “the substantial economic damage inflicted by [r]unaway

[p]roductions” proliferating in the 1980s and beyond.

248

In turn, “Congress

enacted section 181 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“the

Code”),

249

as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.”

250

“Section

181 allows for certain expenses associated with films and television

productions costing less than $15 million to be immediately deducted in the

243

. SCREEN ACTORS GUILD & DIRS. GUILD OF AM., supra note 242, at 2; see

also HERD, supra note 58, at 40–41 (U.S. production went offshore to Australia, in part,

because of government incentives). For runaway productions in Canada, see Debra Felstead,

Toronto TV Production Is Fading to Black; Actors Scrambling to Find Work Funding Cuts,

SARS to Blame, TORONTO STAR, July 6, 2003, at D03. For an appreciation of the global effect

of creative and economic runaways, see KATZ, supra note 242, at 1–2.

244

. Susan Christopherson, Divide and Conquer: Regional Competition in a

Concentrated Media Industry, in CONTRACTING OUT HOLLYWOOD: RUNAWAY PRODUCTIONS

AND FOREIGN LOCATION SHOOTING 21, 21 (Greg Elmer & Mike Gasher eds., 2005).

245

. SCREEN ACTORS GUILD & DIRS. GUILD OF AM., supra note 242, at 6.

246

. Id.

247

. CONTRACTING OUT HOLLYWOOD: RUNAWAY PRODUCTIONS AND FOREIGN

LOCATION SHOOTING 1, 3 (Greg Elmer & Mike Gasher eds., 2005).

248

. KATZ, supra note 242, at 57; JORGE MEDINA & PATRICK S. KLEIN, TAX

DEDUCTIONS FOR FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTIONS UNDER SECTION 181, 2 (n.d.), available

at http://www.lacba.org/files/main%20Folder/sections/taxation/files/8.pdf. “U.S. states

offering significant incentives include: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana,

Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto

Rico, South Carolina, with more are [sic] on the way.” KATZ, supra note 242, at 2.

249

. MEDINA & KLEIN, supra note 248, at 2 (emphasis added). See T.D. 9603,

2013-3 I.R.B., 273, for “final regulations that amend[ed] 26 CFR part 1 to reflect amendments

made to [the] . . . Code by section 502 of the Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax

Relief Act of 2008, Public Law No. 110-343 (122 Stat. 3765) (October 3, 2008).”

250

. MEDINA & KLEIN, supra note 247, at 2; see also KATZ, supra note 242, at

60 (“The language allows producers of films with budgets under $15 million to immediately

write off their costs in a single year—if 75% of their principal costs are incurred via shooting

in the [United States]. Previously, producers had to amortize those costs over several years.”).

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year incurred.”

251

At present, section 181 of the CodeTreatment of certain

qualified film and television productionsprovides that “[a] taxpayer may

elect to treat the cost of any qualified film or television production as an

expense which is not chargeable to capital account. Any cost so treated shall

be allowed as a deduction.”

252

As currently in force, “[s]ection 181 has the

potential to be very effective in limiting the negative economic impact of

[r]unaway [p]roductions,”

253

encouraging television and film productions in

the United States in general and, with economic enticements, in Florida in

particular.

254

The Governor’s OFE commissioned an independent assessment of

Florida’s film and entertainment industry, conducted by the Haas Center for

Business Research and Economic Development.

255

The study revealed that

“[t]he estimated . . . impact of . . . Florida[’s] [f]ilm and [e]ntertainment

[i]ndustry grew from . . . $27 billion in 2003 to [almost $30] billion in

2007.”

256

In no small part, this growth was fueled by Florida’s own financial

incentive program for the entertainment industry, codified in section

288.1254 of the Florida Statutes.

257

Florida’s Entertainment Industry

Financial Incentive Program—which became effective July 1, 2007—“was

created within the Governor’s . . . (OFE) to ‘encourage the use of this state as

a site for filming and to develop and sustain the workforce and infrastructure

for film and entertainment production.’”

258

“To further support this mission

[of maximizing film and entertainment production in Florida], the Governor

and the Florida Legislature provided $25 [million] in funding for the 2007–

2008 fiscal year, . . . up $5 million from the previous fiscal year.”

259

In its

present inception as a six-year program—which “began on July 1, 2010 and

sunsets June 30, 2016”—some $12 million have been allocated by the State

Legislature in tax credits beyond the initial 2010 allocation of $242

million.

260

In “2012, the legislature allocated an additional $42 million in tax

credits to the program, totaling $296 million.”

261

As a cost-to-benefit bottom

251

. MEDINA & KLEIN, supra note 247, at 2.

252

. I.R.C. § 181(a)(1) (2006).

253

. MEDINA & KLEIN, supra note 247, at 2.

254

. Id.; see also KATZ, supra note 242, at 62; Koegel, supra note 169, at 15.

255

. POOLEY, supra note 227, at 1.

256

. Id. at 20.

257

. FLA. STAT. § 288.1254 (2013); see also Koegel, supra note 169, at 15.

258

. Koegel, supra note 169, at 15 (quoting FLA. STAT. § 288.1254(2) (2007)

(current version at FLA. STAT. § 288.1254(2) (2013))).

259

. Id.

260

. FLA. DEP’T OF ECON. OPPORTUNITY & OFFICE OF FILM & ENTM’T, supra

note 212, at 2.

261

. Id.

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70 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

line, Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity claims that since the

program’s inception, the OFE has:

 [S]ubmitted and processed 481 applications;

 [Q]ualified and certified 230 of those productions for tax

credits with projected Florida expenditures of

approximately $1.3 billion; [and]

 [Estimated that] [w]ages to Floridians associated with the

230 productions are currently projected to be close to

$760 million and are associated with 161,000 positions

for Florida residents.

262

Governor Charlie Crist renewed and re-enforced his public

commitment to the program by stating: “‘As we continue to seek growth

opportunities for Florida’s economy, it is important to remember the

significant role film and entertainment plays in our state, directly employing

more than 100,000 Floridians.’”

263

Crist was well aware that ‘“[t]hese

findings highlight how important it is for Florida’s businesses and workforce

to ensure this revenue stream continues flowing into our state.’”

264

The study reiterated the unique benefits that are generated by the

film and entertainment industry.

265

“[T]he economic benefits extend into

other industries: . . . [R]estaurants, lodging, retail, construction, and

tourism.”

266

The economic benefits set in motion “an additional estimated

105,000 related spinoff jobs in 2007 [alone].”

267

“[I]n 2007, the [film and

entertainment] industry [in Florida] accounted for: $17.9 billion in Gross

State Product (“GSP”); $8.5 billion in income to Floridians; and $498

million in tax revenue.”

268

262

. Id.

The production types certified to date [as of 2011/2012] include: 58 motion

pictures (theatrical, made for [television], direct to video, documentaries, visual

effects sequences in conjunction with a motion picture); 42 digital media

productions; and 101 television productions ([television] series, including high-

impact, drama, comedy, game shows, variety, entertainment shows, reality),

[television] series pilots, telenovelas, and award shows; and 29 commercials.

Id.

263

. Study Shows $29.2 Billion Economic Impact for Film and Entertainment

Industry in Florida, FILM FLA. (Mar. 2, 2009), http://www.filmflorida.org/news/

view.aspx?item=86.

264

. Id.

265

. Id.

266

. Id.

267

. Id.

268

. Study Shows $29.2 Billion Economic Impact for Film and Entertainment

Industry in Florida, supra note 263.

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In 2012, Ernst & Young was commissioned by the Motion Picture

Association of America (“MPAA”) to complete a study evaluating the

effectiveness of film tax credits.

269

In that report, Ernst & Young noted

[t]he net fiscal benefit for state and local budgets is

generally determined by comparing the cost of incentives to the

additional state and local taxes generated by the film industry

expansion. The net fiscal effect could be positive or negative

depending upon both the features of state film credits and the

economic characteristics of each production.

270

Elsewhere in the report, Ernst & Young found Florida comparable to

California when comparing “film tax credit programs in selected states with

highest FY2010 credit program expenditures,” yet not as generous as eight of

its peer-competitor film-making states—Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana,

Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, and Pennsylvania—with

respect to “[s]tatutory credit rates by type of qualified expenditure.”

271

The Association of National Advertisers (“ANA”) published a white

paper titled The Found Money of State Commercial Production Incentives

highlighting that:

The list of states that offer commercial production

incentives and the specific details for each state, are continually

evolving. Commercial production incentives are currently

available from Alaska, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii,

Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri,

269

. ANDREW PHILLIPS ET AL., ERNST & YOUNG, EVALUATING THE

EFFECTIVENESS OF STATE FILM TAX CREDIT PROGRAMS: ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE CONSIDERED

(2012), available at http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssetsPI/Evaluating_the_

effectiveness_of_state_film_tax_credit_programs/$FILE/1203-1342731%20Motion%

20Picture%20assoc.%20film%20credit%20study.pdf.

270

. Id. at 7. In the report, Ernst & Young cited how

[t]he advertising value of film and television productions, at a minimum, can be

evaluated by comparing the costs of generating similar awareness of a state through

paid advertising. For decades, states have purchased advertising in magazines and

on television to promote awareness of their states as a destination for tourists.

Examples include Michigan’s “Pure Michigan” campaign, which cost nearly $30

million in 2009; California’s “Find Yourself Here” campaign, which has cost $50

million annually since 2007–08; Hawaii’s leisure and sports marketing budget of

$44 million in 2010; Florida’s marketing cost of $23 million in 2002; and Las

Vegas’ $87 million spent on advertising in 2009, including its “What Happens in

Vegas, Stays in Vegas” campaign.

Id.

271

. Id. at 21 tbl. A-2.

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72 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania,

Puerto Rico, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.

272

The Florida Film and Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive

Program, overseen by the Governor’s Office of Tourism, Trade, and

Economic Development—in the Governor’s OFE—builds, supports and

markets the high-wage, high-growth motion picture and entertainment

industry sectors in Florida.

273

With offices in Tallahassee and Los Angeles,

Florida is able to implement innovative strategies to attract world-class

productions to the state that provide economic benefits to residents and

businesses.

274

A study released in March 2013

on the economic impact of The Florida Film and Entertainment

Industry Financial Incentive Program found a return on investment

(“ROI”) of 4.7, with estimated state and local tax revenues in

Florida last fiscal year totaling $547 million and the present value

272

. Bill Duggan, The Found Money of State Commercial Production

Incentives, ASS’N NAT’L ADVERTISERS (Apr. 23, 2012), http://www.ana.net/blogs/show/id/

23341. The ANA cross-references “The Official Guide to United States Production Incentives

at http://www.easecommercial.com/” as “[o]ne resource available to help stay up to date on

the various state policies.” Id.; see also DAMA CLAIRE & MIKE ROSE, THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO

U.S. PRODUCTION INCENTIVES FOR THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY 6 (Russ Nissen & Garrett

Hauenstein eds., 2013), available at http://easeentertainment.com/wp-content/themes/

ease/images/ECS_Incentives_Guide_Summer_2013.pdf. For other updates by jurisdiction—

within the United States and abroad—see also Updates by Jurisdiction, ENT. PARTNERS (May

30, 2012), http://www.entertainmentpartners.com/result/?nid=6872.

273

. See The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Florida Film & Entertainment

Industry Financial Incentive Program, supra note 2. A brief overview of the program

benefits identified included:

20%–30% transferable tax credit; 20% base percentage; 5% Off Season Bonus (for

certain production types); 5% Family Friendly Bonus (for certain production types);

5% Underutilized Region Bonus (for General Production Queue only); 5%

Qualified Production Facility/Digital Media Facility Bonus (for General Production

Queue, on expenditures associated with production activity at a Qualified

Production Facility/Digital Media Facility); 15% Florida Student/Recent Graduate

Bonus (for General Production Queue, on student/recent grad wages and other

compensation). The priority for qualifying/certifying projects for tax credit awards

is determined on a first-come, first-served basis within its appropriate queue.

Id. For a comparison and contrast of Florida’s peer-competitor states seeking film industry

revenues, and second-order-of-effect tourism and service industry benefits, see, for example,

EMILY PATRICIA GRAHAM, COMPILED COMPARISON OF FILM TAX INCENTIVES IN LOUISIANA,

FLORIDA, TEXAS AND NEW MEXICO (n.d.), available at http://www.americanbar.org/

content/dam/aba/migrated/2011_build/entertainment_sports/film_incentives_compiled_compa

rison.authcheckdam.pdf.

274

. See The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Florida Film & Entertainment

Industry Financial Incentive Program, supra note 2; The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t,

Location Resources, FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com/lr/default.asp (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014) [hereinafter The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Location Resources].

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 73

of the tax credit totaling $117 million. The ROI is 4.7 when the

state and local tax revenue effects of film-induced tourism,

production spending, and infrastructure spending are taken into

account.

275

That means, “for every $1.00 of credit distributed, the state and local

governments received a combined $4.70 in taxes.”

276

The incentive also

supported an estimated 87,870 jobs and $7.2 billion in economic spending

across the state, both through production spending and induced tourism.

277

Vans Stevenson, Senior Vice President for State Government Affairs

at the MPAA, aptly pointed out in 2013 that the range of “major theatrical

releases like Magic Mike and Dolphin Tale to some of television’s most

watched shows like Burn Notice and The Glades [in] the entertainment

industry is a fundamental element to Florida’s economy.”

278

Indeed, “[t]he

Emmy-nominated show [Burn Notice] infused more than $28.6 million into

South Florida’s economy during [its] first two seasons [alone of a seven

season run], and . . . created more than 2700 jobs”

279

while receiving $5.2

million of the 2009 State of Florida incentive budget totaling $10.8

million.

280

“[H]oliday box office [hit] Marley & Me . . . injected more than

$10 million into South Florida’s economy, employing nearly 1400

Floridians,” as the number one hit at the box office for two weeks and

“effectively market[ed] South Florida[] [as the perfect] . . . destination[] [for]

millions of winter moviegoers.”

281

For over a billion warm climate moviegoers in India, Mumbai’s so-

called Bollywood has traditionally satisfied cinematic cravings,

282

at least

275

. Press Release, Motion Picture Ass’n of Am., Inc., Motion Picture &

Television Production Incentive Program Results in Significant Economic Impact, Investment

Return in Florida (Mar. 20, 2013), available at http://www.mpaa.org/resources/53dedf92-

dbf0-45f1-9d63-dce86a488c70.pdf.

276

. Id.

277

. Id.

278

. Id.

279

. Study Shows $29.2 Billion Economic Impact for Film and Entertainment

Industry in Florida, supra note 263.

280

. Lee Logan, Burn Notice Star Stumps for Film Tax Credits, MIAMI HERALD

(Nov. 3, 2009, 1:30 PM), http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2009/11/burn-notice-

star-stumps-for-film-tax-credits.html.

281

. Study Shows $29.2 Billion Economic Impact for Film and Entertainment

Industry in Florida, supra note 263.

282

. See Richard Corliss, Hooray for Bollywood!, TIME MAG., Sept. 16, 1996,

at 88. Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry

based in Mumbai (Bombay), Maharashtra, India. EJVIND VOGG, DANSK INDUSTRI, THE INDIAN

BOLLYWOOD INDUSTRY (2012), available at http://di.dk/SiteCollectionDocuments/

DIBD/sektoranalyser/The%20Indian%20Bollywood%20Industry_2013.pdf.

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74 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

until Miami beckoned for a creative runaway

283

to its sandy shores and hot

nightlife.

284

Dharma Productions’ feature film Dostana—Friendship in

Hindi and Urdu—starring John Abraham, Abhishek Bachchan, and Priyanka

Chopra, produced by Karan Johar, was “the first major Bollywood [f]ilm to

shoot in Miami-Dade County.”

285

The romantic-comedy Dostana went on to

become the eighth highest grossing film at the Indian box office,

286

grossing

one billion Indian rupees, or $16.8 million, in its first four weeks alone at the

box office

287

—no small measure in the world’s largest movie market—which

“had a revenue of . . . $3 [billion] in 2011, and has been growing at

approx[imately] 10.1% a year. The revenue is expected to reach . . . $4.5

[billion] by 2016.”

288

As a low budget sequel of five hundred and six

thousand—compared to two million dollars for the original Dostana

289

—

actor “John Abraham promises [a] kid-friendly Dostana 2,” with Abraham

and Bachchan “migrat[ing] from Miami to Punjab,”

290

as only a partial

creative runaway.

291

Because of this unprecedented governmental support, “there is an

established film office and film liaison infrastructure within Florida.”

292

addition to the “Florida[] film office . . . housed in the Governor’s office, . . .

there are [fifty-four] film liaisons located throughout the [s]tate.”

293

The

Sunshine State is also the only state with a full time Los Angeles film office

283

. For a discussion of creative versus economic runaways, see SCREEN

ACTORS GUILD & DIRS. GUILD OF AM., supra note 242, at 2.

284

. M. BARRON STOFIK, SAVING SOUTH BEACH 239–41 (2005).

285

. Don’t Miss the Miami Premiere of the Bollywood Feature Film Dostana .

. ., FILMIAMI.ORG, http://www.miamidade.gov/filmiami/home-TS-110608-1.asp (last visited

Jan. 18, 2014); Dostana Grosses Rs 1 Billion Worldwide in Four Weeks, BUS. CINEMA (Dec.

11, 2008), http://businessofcinema.com/bollywood-news/dostana-grosses-rs-1-billion-

worldwide-in-four-weeks/26099.

286

. Box Office 2008, BOXOFFICEINDIA.COM, http://www.boxofficeindia.com/

showProd.php?itemCat=215 (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

287

. Dostana Grosses Rs 1 Billion Worldwide in Four Weeks, supra note 285.

Conversion calculated based upon June 23, 2013 foreign currency exchange rate of one Indian

rupee to .0168703764625 United States dollars. INR to USD Rate, FOREX MONEY CHANGER,

http://www.fxmoneychanger.com/inr/usd/rate/?q=180 (last updated Nov. 10, 2013).

288

. Vogg, supra note 282.

289

. See Dostana—Box Office/Business, IMDB, http://www.imdb.com/title/

tt1185420/business?ref_=tt_dt_bus (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

290

. Shalvi Mangaokar, John Abraham Promises Kid-Friendly Dostana 2,

HINDUSTAN TIMES (June 20, 2013), http://www.hindustantimes.com/Entertainment/

Bollywood/John-Abraham-promises-kid-friendly-Dostana-2/Article1-1079368.aspx.

291

. Id.; see also SCREEN ACTORS GUILD & DIRS. GUILD OF AM., supra note

241, at 2.

292

. POOLEY, supra note 227, at 22.

293

. Id.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 75

whose goal is to bridge the gap between Hollywood and Florida.

294

Extending Florida’s reach to California cements a strong and enduring

relationship with Hollywood and exemplifies Florida’s steadfast commitment

to the film industry.

295

Florida is aggressively implementing innovative

strategies to attract productions from all over the world.

296

World-class

productions provide billions of dollars of economic benefits to Florida

residents and businesses.

297

X. FLORIDA’S FUTURE: FAITHFULNESS AND FIDELITY TO THE FILM

INDUSTRY

Florida is not about to take its relationship with the movie industry

for granted.

298

Dedicated to the successful growth of the industry, Florida

continues to find ways to reinforce the bonds, reveal weaknesses and re-

affirm its strengths.

299

The Tourism Committee of the Florida House of

Representatives State Infrastructure Council authored a report in 2006,

entitled Florida’s Entertainment Industry Infrastructure: Are We Growing

the Indigenous Industry as well as Supporting Production?

300

The report

made recommendations for the operations within the Governor’s Office and

the film industry within the state.

301

Recommendations included re-

evaluation of Florida’s tax incentives, fully funding and staffing the

Governor’s Office of Film and Entertainment, and aggressively bringing in

production from other states.

302

The 2009 Haas Analysis of the Florida Film and Entertainment

Industry (“Haas Analysis”) explored Florida’s strengths, weaknesses, and

opportunities.

303

Florida’s “[u]niqueness of place . . . offers a wide variety of

filming locations,” and Miami is now internationally recognizable because of

Florida’s film industry.

304

Notably, Matt Nix, Executive Producer of Burn

294

. Id.

295

. See id.

296

. See, e.g., FLA. H.R. COMM. ON TOURISM, FLORIDA’S ENTERTAINMENT

INDUSTRY INFRASTRUCTURE: ARE WE GROWING THE INDIGENOUS INDUSTRY AS WELL AS

SUPPORTING PRODUCTION? i–iii (2006), available at http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/

sections/Documents/loaddoc.aspx?PublicationType=Committees&committeeId=2235&Sessio

n=2006&DocumentType=Reports&FileName=Entertainment%20Industry%20Infrastructureo

nline.pdf.

297

. POOLEY, supra note 227, at 1920.

298

. See FLA. H.R. COMM. ON TOURISM, supra note 296, at i.

299

. Id.

300

. Id.

301

. Id. at i, v, xi–xv.

302

. Id. at v, xi–xv.

303

. POOLEY, supra note 227, at 21–24.

304

. Id. at 21.

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76 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

Notice, explained about Miami, “Miami [is] just a very convenient place for

[the lead character, Michael]. It [is] a place where you can blow things up

and nobody notices.”

305

The Haas Analysis report points out a weakness in labor rates.

306

“[T]he current structuring of labor rates by unions, [especially the] IATSE,

results in wage rates [of] $5.25 to $6.00 . . . higher on productions taking

place in Florida as compared to . . . competing states. There is also a[] . . .

perception that unions are [hard] to deal with in Florida.”

307

Also, recent

severe weather, tropical storms, and hurricanes add an additional concern to

productions choosing Florida.

308

But, there are opportunities for increased production in niche

markets.

309

Florida is looking to get a competitive edge by appealing to

Spanish-language television and the Spanish-language workforce.

310

The

overall conclusion, as a result of all the industry analysis, is that if Florida

wants to attract on-location filming to the Sunshine State, it will have to

provide the most attractive incentive programs.

311

A statement from Warner

Brothers Worldwide Television summed this up: “[I]n the past few years,

financial incentives have overwhelmed the where to shoot equation. Major

studios and smart independents are going to locations that have the best

incentives. It [is] as simple as that.”

312

The Film in Florida website—www.filminflorida.com—is the new

guide to the Florida Film Industry for 2013, highlighting the Florida OFE’s

mission to support, build, and market Florida’s entertainment industry.

313

The mission reaffirms the importance of “collaborat[ion] with the indigenous

. . . community [and dedication] to implement[ation of] innovative ways to

grow [the] industry.”

314

The OFE strives to provide “hands-on, world-class

service that our clients need and deserve, and exceed our annual business

goals to become the number two global . . . leader.”

315

They are committed

305

. April MacIntyre, USA’s ‘Burn Notice’ Matt Nix Interview, M & C (Aug.

5, 2008), http://www.monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/features/article_1421668.php/

USA_s_Burn_Notice_Matt_Nix_interview.

306

. POOLEY, supra note 227, at 23.

307

. Id.

308

. Id.

309

. Id. at 170–71.

310

. Id. at 24, 31.

311

. See POOLEY, supra note 227, at 30.

312

. Id.

313

. FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com (last visited Jan. 18,

2014); The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Vision & Mission, supra note 167.

314

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, About Us: Vision & Mission, supra

note 167.

315

. Id.

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 77

to integrity, inclusiveness, accountability, partnering, empowerment, and

innovation.

316

Links from the website include easy on-line permitting,

federal incentive programs, and contact information to guilds, unions and

associations.

317

The film office website has launched the Florida Green Production

Plan, which includes guidance to production companies so that they can

“make environmentally-wise decisions at every phase of production” in

Florida.

318

This initiative involves interaction with multiple Florida

agencies.

319

The Forest Stewardship Council, recycling centers, the Florida

Green Lodging program, hazardous waste centers, and regulations are clearly

linked and articulated to ease production companies in going green in

Florida.

320

The Governor’s Office also provides, through the Film in Florida

organization, a Hurricane Preparedness Plan for filmmakers.

321

It explains

specific insurance provisions through Insuring Florida, links to the Central

Florida Hurricane Center, numerous phone numbers and links for emergency

evacuation assistance, mayors’ offices, disaster preparedness centers, and

storm surge evacuation maps.

322

The website includes an almost limitless library of photographs and

a rich inventory of locations that showcase the expansive diversity of

Florida.

323

This is incredibly helpful to out-of-state producers, who can scout

locations in cyberspace without the expense of physically traveling to Florida

during the early phase of production planning.

324

It appears that by 2014 and beyond, the Governor’s Office, Florida

administrative agencies, and film liaisons will have covered every

conceivable whim, wish, want, sine qua non, and exigency.

325

The Film in

Florida website is a fascinating display of Florida’s undying dedication to

Hollywood and the film industry.

326

316

. Id.

317

. Id.

318

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Florida Green Production Plan,

FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com/prl/gpp.asp (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

319

. See id.

320

. Id.

321

. FILM FLA. & GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF FILM & ENTM’T, FLORIDA FILM,

TELEVISION, AND ENTERTAINMENT HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS PLAN 1 (n.d.), available at

http://www.miamidade.gov/filmiami/hurricane-preparedness.pdf.

322

. Id. at 8–10.

323

. The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Location Resources, supra note 274.

324

. See id.

325

. See FILM FLA. & GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF FILM & ENTM’T, supra note 321,

at 1–3; FILMINFLORIDA.COM, supra note 313; The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Location

Resources, supra note 274.

326

. See FILMINFLORIDA.COM, supra note 313.

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78 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

A recent study commissioned by the MPAA is a revealing

quantification of the economic impact of the film industry in Florida, as

already experienced in fiscal year (“FY”) 2011/2012.

327

Florida Impacts FY 2011/2012

Production Impacts

Production Expenditure ($2005 millions)

$1512

Output ($2005 millions)

$2536

Gross State Product ($2005 millions)

$1507

Employment (FTEs)

19,308

Labor Income ($2005 millions)

$761

State and Local Taxes (Nominal $

millions)

$140.44

Figure 1—Estimated Florida Economic Impacts of Production Spending in

FY 2011/2012

328

What may well be most telling of the future economic impact of

Florida’s film industry was the study’s estimates for the exponential revenue

growth, employment increases, and raised tax revenues in the five-year

period beginning in 2011 forward.

329

Florida Impacts

(2011–2016)

IMPLAN

Estimates

REMI Tax-PI

Estimates

Midpoint

Production

Expenditure ($2005

millions)

$3769

Output ($2005

millions)

$6235

$6389

$6321

Gross State Product

($2005 millions)

$3631

$3885

$3758

Employment (FTEs)

53,466

42,803

48,134

Labor Income ($2005

millions)

$1984

$1812

$1898

State and Local Taxes

(Nominal $ millions)

$350.1

Not Reported

$350.1

Figure 2—Midpoint of IMPLAN and REMI TAX-PI Estimated Florida

Economic Impacts of Production Spending

330

327

. MNP, ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF THE FLORIDA FILM AND

ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY FINANCIAL INCENTIVE PROGRAM 2 (2013), available at http://

www.mpaa.org/Resources/0a432ae0-5b5e-4c7f-b3de-dc6693722914.pdf.

328

. Id.

329

. See id. at 1.

330

. Id. Note: IMPLAN=Impact Analysis for Planning; REMI=Regional

Economic Models, Inc.; TAX-PI=a ready-to-use, “dynamic fiscal and economic impact

model” that captures the direct, indirect, and induced “fiscal and economic effects of

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2013] FLORIDA AND THE FILM INDUSTRY 79

XI. CONCLUSION

Florida and the film industry: A match made in heaven, or rather,

paradise. Florida’s ineradicable dedication to the needs and desires of the

film industry proves her unwavering commitment to this treasured

relationship.

331

Globally, grateful members of the film industry show respect

and loyalty in return.

332

This allegiance allows the benefits of the

relationship to flow both ways, and ultimately the citizens of the Sunshine

State reap the greatest rewards.

333

Proof of Florida’s steadfastness continues as Governor Rick Scott

highlighted Dolphin Tale 2’s production in Florida highlighted earlier.

334

Dolphin Tale 2 is the true story of baby dolphin, named Hope, who was

rescued and rehabilitated by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in 2010.

Florida Representative Ed Hooper said, “Its’ great news that Dolphin Tale 2

will be filmed in Clearwater, creating an economic benefit to the entire

area.”

335

Hooper went on to thank Governor Scott for “focusing on creating

jobs in Florida.”

336

According to the Governor’s Office, the 2013-2014

Florida Families First budget includes $5 million in general revenue funds to

be allocated to the production.

337

Also anxiously anticipated for its

entertainment prospects, and much appreciated from a jobs and revenue

perspective, is the May 2015 release of an upcoming science fiction mystery

film, Tomorrowland; it is being filmed at various Disney theme parks, and

directed, co-written, and produced by Brad Bird and produced and co-written

by Damon Lindelof, starring the non-Delphinidae human actors Britt

Robertson and George Clooney, with Hugh Laurie as the primary villain.

338

tax[ation] [and other] policy changes” over multiple years. Statewide Policy Analysis Tools,

FLA. OFF. ECON. & DEMOGRAPHIC RES., http://edr.state.fl.us/Content/statewide-policy-

analysis-tools/index.cfm (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

331

. See FLA. H.R. COMM. ON TOURISM, supra note 296, at i–ii.

332

. See id. at ii, iv, viii; Longwell, supra note 180.

333

. See FLA. H.R. COMM. ON TOURISM, supra note 296, at v; Longwell, supra

note 180.

334

. Visit St. Pete Clearwater, supra note 230, at 9.

335

. Governor Rick Scott Announces Dolphin Tale 2 to be Filmed in

Clearwater, RICK SCOTT (July 26, 2013), http://www.flgov.com/governor-rick-scott-

announces-dolphin-tale-2-to-be-filmed-in-clearwater.

336

. Id.

337

. Id.

338

. Tomorrowland, is being filmed at the Tomorrowland attraction at Walt

Disney World, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, as well as various locations around Titusville and

New Smyrna Beach, Florida. See, e.g., Anthony Breznican, Disney’s Mysterious ‘1952’

Movie Has a New Name . . . ‘Tomorrowland’–Exclusive, ENT. WKLY. (Jan. 28, 2013, 3:15

PM), http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/01/28/disneys-1952-is-tomorrowland/; Mike Fleming,

‘Lost’s Damon Lindelof Makes 7–Figure Disney Deal to Write Secret Sci-Fi Feature,

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80 NOVA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 38

As this multi-billion dollar relationship continues into its second

century, with over 120 films and television shows and counting,

339

filmmakers and Floridians can look forward to many more success stories—

especially if they focus on diligent collaboration, economic incentives, and

absolutely any tale about a bottlenose dolphin.

340

DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD (June 9, 2011, 11:43 AM), http://www.deadline.com/2011/06/losts-

damon-lindelof-makes-7-figure-disney-deal-to-write-secret-sci-fi-feature/; Eugene Garcia, Is

‘Tomorrowland’ Movie Tied to Disneyland Area?, ORANGE COUNTY REG. (Jan. 28, 2013),

http://www.ocregister.com/news/movie-409540-disney-tomorrowland.html; Tomorrowland—

Filming Locations, IMBD, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1964418/locations?ref_=tt_dt_dt (last

visited Jan. 18, 2014). For those unfamiliar with the Delphinidae family by its Latin name,

Bottlenose dolphins, the genus Tursiops, are the most common and well-known members of

oceanic dolphins. See Scientific Classification: Bottlenose Dolphins, SEAWORLD PARKS &

ENT., http://seaworld.org/en/Animal-Info/Animal-InfoBooks/Bottlenose-Dolphins/Scientific-

Classification (last visited Jan. 18, 2014).

339

. See The Fla. Office of Film & Entm’t, Florida Entertainment Industry

Financial Incentive Recipients, FILMINFLORIDA.COM, http://www.filminflorida.com/ifi/fir.asp

(last visited Jan. 18, 2014); Films Made in Florida, WORLDWIDE GUIDE TO MOVIE LOCATIONS,

http://www.movie-locations.com/places/usa/florida.html (last updated Oct. 2, 2013). This has

been an incomplete and non-exclusive chronicling of movies and television shows in Florida.

Films Made in Florida, supra note 339. For more resources for cinephiles to explore noted

movies, television shows, and more, see ‘Chu and Blossom’ Needs Extras in Largo, FL This

Weekend, supra note 235, and see J.A. Jones, Florida on Film, FLORIDA MOVIES, SPRING

2013, http://faculty.scf.edu/jonesj/hum2230/FLORIDAMOVIES.html#pre, and Pictures:

Movies Filmed in Orlando, Orlando Sentinel, October 11, 2013, http://

www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/movies/os-movies-filmed-in-orlando-

pictures,0,6105676.photogallery. For information on the sixty-two film festivals in Florida,

and counting, see, e.g., Film Festivals, filminflorida.com, 2014, http://www.filminflorida.com/

wh/ff.asp.

340

. See FLA. H.R. COMM. ON TOURISM, supra note 296, at ii; Flipper Dolphin,

supra note 121.

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