Posted by Carol Azizian | The Flint Journal June 01, 2008 10:24AM

Associated Press file photoJeff Daniels (right) instructs Wayne David Parker during the filming of "Escanaba in da Moonlight" in March 2000. The film was shot in Escanaba.

Clint Eastwood's making our day by filming his next movie, "Gran Torino," in Michigan.

Clint Eastwod

A Saginaw native is shooting a television series in Flint and other Michigan cities. And Flint has been checked out as a possible site for a yet unnamed project.

Cameras will roll in the Detroit area for the Lifetime movie "Prayers for Bobby," starring Sigourney Weaver. Production companies are setting up shop in buildings around Detroit and its suburbs. A Holland filmmaker hopes to convert a Reddi Wip factory into a soundstage.

This is reel life in Michigan.

Scores of filmmakers are scoping out the Great Lakes State ever since Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed a law last month that allows Michigan to offer some of the most generous rebates in the country.

So far, 19 agreements have been signed, with estimated total Michigan production expenditures of $174 million, said Terry Stanton, public information officer for the state Department of Treasury. About $61 million may be rebated to the filmmakers, he said.

Mark Adler of Novi, director of the Michigan Production Alliance, said "when the smell of the incentive got out there, it was all over the country. There was buzz from the East Coast to the West Coast.

"People were sending scripts to the Michigan Film Office. When the incentive was passed, it got more intense."

Films such as "Semi-Pro," "Jumper," "Escanaba in da Moonlight," "Roger and Me" and "Somewhere in Time" put our state on the cinematic map. Now Hollywood and indie filmmakers are back for more.

The incentives

Productions that spend $50,000 or more in Michigan are eligible to receive up to a 40 percent refundable tax credit, or 42 percent if they shoot in one of 103 "core" communities, which includes Flint.

The rebates also apply to video games, TV shows and documentaries.

"It's probably one of the best presentations in the country," said Mike Matthews, a Saginaw native who's filming a TV pilot called "The Flynns" in Flint and other Michigan cities.

Matthews said his family is financing the pilot episode. He's been writing and producing the show with his brother, Craig, of Richmond, Va.

Crews will start filming in Flint at the end of June, said Mike Matthews, who's staying in Flint Township. He said he intends to shoot 13 episodes in Michigan and apply for the state's incentives.

"We've already had investors lining up," he said. "It's an exciting product. It has a real moral story."

The series, which will star Broadway and TV actress Melba Moore and comedian T.K. Carter, will be "an urban version of 'The Sopranos,'" Matthews said. The story revolves around two brothers -- one who wants to expand the empire they built through running numbers, nightclubs and escort houses, and the other who's diverting revenue into more legitimate enterprises.

Jerry Preston, president of the Flint Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, said there's been at least one scout here since last year's filming of "Semi-Pro," which not only boosted the city's financial condition but also its image.

"(The scouting was) for a movie, but I don't know anything other than it (may be) a Time Warner (production)," Preston said. "We're one of about three cities in Michigan that are being considered. But I'm not sure any of that's gospel. They're very quiet about it."

Beloved actor/director Clint Eastwood is filming "Gran Torino" in the metropolitan Detroit area, said Flint native Janet Lockwood, director of the Michigan Film Office.

"Gran Torino" won't be another "Dirty Harry" flick, according to Internet buzz.

The Web site Slashfilm.com says "dirty, septuagenarian Harry Callahan is nowhere to be found" in this film ... As previously rumored, it's a coming-of-age buddy comedy between an old fart (Eastwood, no offense) who cherishes his titular muscle car and a young, troubled Asian kid who tries to steal said car to impress a gang."

Some say it's not a comedy but a dramatic story with comedic elements.

Positive buzz

The new legislation has "created a significant amount of activity here, a positive buzz about the state and what we've got to offer," said state Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, a sponsor of the bill.

"Tell me what other industry has put almost $200 million into the state economy in six weeks?" Huizenga said. "There's a preponderance of evidence pointing to this being very positive and lucrative."

Detractors wonder how an already strapped state is going to pay for the incentives.

"They (the Treasury Department) have not put a single dime out yet, and they won't for a significant period of time," Huizenga said. "In the meantime, (film crews) are buying lumber for sets, renting cars and hotel rooms and hiring caterers."

Huizenga said he didn't believe that other areas of the state budget -- for example, education -- would suffer as a result of the incentives.

"Treasury has said that we need a year in place to see how it's going to affect the budget and people's businesses," he noted.

But, he added, if you look at other states such as Louisiana, New York and New Mexico -- which also offer generous incentives -- the benefits are obvious.

"In Louisiana, film incentives grew industry spending from $12 million to over half a billion," said Lockwood.

"New Mexico loans money to some projects. Their incentives grew the industry from $2 or $3 million to over $400 million."

Michigan's new law doesn't include a cap or "sunset," meaning an end date for the incentives. Whether the state will wind up placing a cap on the amount of money to be doled out remains to be seen.

In the past, Michigan had a sliding scale of 12 percent to 20 percent depending on the size of the production budget, Huizenga noted.

Besides cash rebates for productions, the state is offering incentives for studios that build soundstages here. They include a low-interest loan program which will be in effect in the fall, infrastructure tax credit and work force development tax credit for hiring and training Michigan crew members.

"If you go to Vancouver (for instance), there are a tremendous number of soundstages and a good physical infrastructure that wasn't there 10 years ago," Huizenga said.

Lots of action

Holland filmmaker Hopwood DePree, who owns TicTock Studios, hopes to transform a ReddiWip factory into a soundstage. DePree -- who divides his time between Hollywood, New York and Holland -- wrote, directed and starred in the 1999 comedy "Last Big Attraction." He also founded the Waterfront Film Festival in Saugatuck.

"The wide-open spaces that were used as coolers for the whipped cream make great soundstages," DePree told The Wall Street Journal.

DePree recruited Jeffrey Stott, who produced the 2007 film "The Bucket List," to teach classes at Grand Rapids Community College in an effort to develop film-crew talent.

TicTock's first film will be "Tug." It's about a small-town guy who tries to decide between staying with his current girlfriend or going back to his psycho ex, according to Imdb.com.

Adler of the Michigan Production Alliance said the state has had a strong production crew base since the 1940s. "Over the years, it has crumbled because of economic issues. But there are crews in west and southeast Michigan. There's a lot of independent filming going on in Michigan."

He's currently working on the crew of a Weinstein Co. production called "Youth in Revolt." Filming will begin in early June in the Detroit area, he said. The coming-of-age story stars Michael Cera, who played Bleeker in the hit indie film "Juno."

Crews have been shouting "lights, camera, action" in several Detroit locations this month for a movie called "The Job." The story of a young man struggling to find his way in the job market, it stars Patrick Flueger of "The Princess Diaries," Ron Perlman of "Hellboy" and Joe Pantioliano of "The Sopranos."

Adler named two other low-budget films currently being filmed in Michigan: "Street Boss" (in the Saginaw area) and "Red and Blue Marbles" (starring Ruby Dee).

"A lot of people are waiting to see what happens with the (Screen Actors Guild) strike (before starting production)," Adler said.