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Since 1980, more than 550 feature films and television productions have been made in Chicago, leaving behind $1 billion in the local economy.
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In order to sell the notion of shooting film in Chicago, you need the cooperation of so many different levels. Not just the usual suspects who support film production in Chicago, but you need to build what is the film culture of Chicago.
I've seen how that has benefited other communities, specifically Toronto. I see that Toronto is home to a huge amount of film production. So you see a lot of trucks on the street and there is less parking for the residents. It is not that filmmakers in Toronto still don't face challenges like we do, but the culture of film in Toronto as something to go see and support in terms of its production helps attract filmmakers. You need the support of the community, legislatures, and the production industry.
So, when good things happen and we are able to pull off big scenes, it is important that we not only showcase the city, but demonstrate how they created a lot of jobs and positive things for the city.
The tax receipts don’t hurt either.
Not at all. It contributes to the lowering of the tax burden for the entire city.
Two films released in February that were shot in Chicago are "Barber Shop 2" and "Lana’s Rain." Tell us about your experiences working with those productions.
As different as those films are in scale, budget and the kinds of audiences there are designed to attract, there were some similarities. Before producing the first "Barber Shop" film, Robert Teitel and George Tillman made a small film called "Scenes from the Soul" that was probably around the same budget of "Lana's Rain" and certainly the same scale.
The city and the state supported them on that film because they were Chicago filmmakers, and we knew they could become local heroes of sort. I can see the same thing, perhaps, happening with "Lana's Rain". It was about Chicagoans with limited resources making good use of the city.
With the film "Chicago" being the most obvious example, how do you feel when you see depictions of Chicago that aren't actually shot in the city.
The perfect example is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which was a wonderful film that I enjoyed. I couldn't help but think how much better, or bigger and fatter if you will, that film would be if it would have been able to make good use of Chicago as a character of the film.
Clearly, the same thing could have been said of "Chicago." However, if there is one thing that helped to drive advocacy of shooting films in Chicago, it was the success of that film and the attention it received.
Runaway production has been going on for years. But when a film that wins that many awards, has that many stars and is named "Chicago," it gets the attention of government leaders.
It almost took a bottoming out and the success of a film like "Chicago" to cause people to say "it is a shame that things aren't filmed here."
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003: Rich Moskal
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