- Target:
- Maryland Legislature
- Region:
- United States of America
- Website:
- mdfilm.org
Factories and large businesses are obvious, apparent and easily observable. If one closes or has layoffs, it makes the news. The Maryland Film Industry, which is as big or bigger than many other local industries, is comprised of many individual craftspeople. As a result, the impact of unemployment or underemployment is basically invisible except to those who directly feel its pain.
As frightening as the current national 10.2% unemployment rate is to all of us, it is many times higher than that in the Maryland Film Industry. Although it is difficult to calculate exact figures given the widely distributed and diverse workforce, estimates approaching 40% unemployment and 60% underemployment may be conservative. In other words, catastrophic.
The national mortgage crisis has taught us that the problems of an individual family's personal bankruptcy ripples through the lives of the surrounding neighborhood like an earthquake. A similar earthquake is now being felt in Maryland as its Film Industry workers fight to stay solvent, pay their mortgages and feed their families. These ripples created by the lack of work extend through every retail and wholesale business in the state and through every service sector that would normally be patronized by these taxpaying Maryland residents.
Please read and sign the petition below. Personal information and emails will never be publicly viewed. Your privacy will be respected.
We the undersigned of this petition are asking Governor Martin O'Malley and the Maryland State Legislature to revisit the State's Film Incentive Program to attract film production to Maryland.
This does not take money away from existing non-film related state programs as some people have been lead to believe. This is to offer competitive incentives to incoming businesses that serve our film production community and all of the secondary and tertiary businesses in Maryland. Recent studies have shown that a carefully crafted Film Production Incentive Program creates jobs directly and indirectly, increases tax revenue and has a positive return on investment.
Actors and production and postproduction people and facilities are the obvious receivers of this income, but please, remember our lumber yards and metal shops, hotels, motels, vehicle rental, restaurants, wait staff, cooks, bus personnel, local and wholesale food sales, coffee shops, hardware stores, clothing stores. In fact, there are countless businesses that benefit. Maryland was once number five in the nation in film production, generating tens of million of dollars for Maryland. We want to work hard to get back to that number again, but can only do it with your help, and the help of our government leaders.
You can further help this campaign by sponsoring it
The Support MD Film Incentives Now petition to Maryland Legislature was written by filmincentives and is in the category Arts & Entertainment at GoPetition.