arts & life
film
Local film-industry
pros comment on
the possible end
of the incentives
program.
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
Mark Adler, a founding director of the Michigan Production Alliance, frames a shot at Detroit's train station.
CONTINUED FROM
PAGE 1
offered to entice the production of
movies, TV shows and video games
to Michigan. The legislation is now
waiting for approval or disapproval
by the governor. If he agrees, there
will be no new money for the pro-
gram.
Gov. Rick Snyder is expected
to sign the bill. His spokesper-
son says he looks over every bill
closely before making final deci-
sions. There are plans, however,
to maintain the nearly 40-year-
old Michigan Film Office.
Before administering incentives
established in 2008 to reimburse
25 percent of qualified production
costs, the office provided produc-
tion resource information.
"When I graduated college in
2009, my timing was perfect for
film opportunities, and I tried
to make that work in Michigan,"
Rubin says. "Ninety-nine percent
of my cast and crew were from the
state.
"Now, I'm trying to figure out
what to do. I don't want to make a
final decision because lawmakers
have flip-flopped before. This is all
beyond frustrating:'
Rubin is among many local
Jewish community members
who have enhanced their earning
capacities through feature film, tele-
vision and video projects advanced
in the state. Their concerns, beyond
rphahritv Jews
Nate Bloom
Special to the
Jewish News
AT THE MOVIES
Amy is a documentary about Amy
Winehouse, the acclaimed U.K. Jewish
jazz singer who died
of alcohol poison-
ing in 2011, at age
27. The film's direc-
tor, Asif Kapadia,
demanded and got
creative control when
he was recruited by
Winehouse's
British
Winehouse
40 July 9 • 2015
personal financial security, involve
statewide interests in job growth,
business diversity, retention of
young talent and positive impres-
sions experienced by visiting pro-
fessionals.
Burnstein, whose feature films
include Renaissance Man and D3:
The Mighty Ducks, served on the
Michigan Film Office Advisory
Council for nine years and was vice
chairman.
"The lack of incentives won't
affect my work, but I won't have the
luxury of staying home to do it:'
says Burnstein, who believes he will
be spending more time in Georgia,
where the Michigan incentives pro-
gram has been successfully adapted.
Burnstein, who has worked with
record label and family to make this
film. The result has not pleased many,
including the family, who put out a
statement that said, in part, that "It
is both misleading and contains some
basic untruths."
However, reviewers say that Kapadia
hasn't attributed Winehouse's "train-
wreck" demise to one source, like her
family. As the phrase goes, there is
guilt all around (including Winehouse's
own demons; a father who may have
wanted to ride her success too much;
and a junkie husband and his creepy
entourage.)
To his credit, Kapadia decided to
concentrate on what will most endure:
Winehouse's music and its creation. He
had some luck early on, when Amy's
radio personality and writer Mitch
Albom in advocating for incentives,
has seen financial estimates that
project a $5-$6 economic impact
for every $1 in incentives.
While trying to help build
an indigenous film industry in
Michigan, Burnstein has seen the
positive effects of internship oppor-
tunities and technician moves into
the state.
Confident that the Michigan
Film Office performs well in help-
ing filmmakers with tasks like find-
ing locations, he also is confident
that the industry can't be sustained
without incentives.
"People need to realize that we
are living in highly polarized politi-
cal times when issues aren't looked
first manager told him that he had
archived 12 hours of film from the sing-
er's early career. Kapadia drew on this
film and hundreds of hours of inter-
views and other archival film to tell
the story of a really great talent whom
no one seemed able to save. Opens
Thursday, July 9.
THE SMALL SCREEN
Impastor, a comedy
Rosenbaum
series, premieres on
TV Land 10:30 p.m.
Wednesday, July
15. It stars Michael
Rosenbaum, 42, as
Buddy Dobbs, a gam-
bling-addict slacker
who, in order to go
at in rational ways as they were in
bipartisan times," Burnstein says.
"It's part of a bigger problem with
everything on party lines:'
Ken Droz, a film-industry con-
sultant who worked on The Pickle
Recipe, served almost three years as
communications consultant for the
Michigan Film Office. He also has
advocated and done letter-writing
in favor of keeping the incentives.
"In making independent films,
every dollar is crucial so states can
be very competitive when it comes
to attracting filmmakers," Droz says.
"I think it's unfair for anyone to
say that the incentives have failed
because they don't see the program
operating as revenue neutral. The
idea was to develop an infrastruc-
on the run from a loan shark, ends up
stealing the identity of a gay pastor in
a nearby small town. (Rosenbaum is
best known for playing Lex Luthor in
the long-running Smallyille TV series.)
Another Jewish thespian, Sara Rue, 36,
has a co-starring role as Dora Winton,
an assistant to the pastor who is also
the town gossip. Rue is best known
for starring in the ABC series, Less
Than Perfect (2002-2006). She has
slimmed down a great deal since that
show ended and, in 2013, she and her
husband (whom she wed before a rabbi)
had their first child.
Starting at 10 p.m. on the same day,
also on TV Land, is the Jim Gaffigan
Show, a fictionalized version of comedi-
an Gaffigan's real life. He plays a come-