Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2019

mp business www.MPBusinessMag.com | www.BestOfMP.com | www.MountPleasantMagazine.com MPB While South Carolina may not offer nearly as much as Georgia or New York, the draw of South Carolina’s incentives is that it offers a cash rebate that is returned within 45 days after auditing by the South Carolina Film Commission. Linda Lee, location scout and president of the CFA, is leading the way advocating for more funding. “We have a great government affairs team who have been able to educate the legislature as to what the film industry needs and what the film industry can do for the state,” she said. “We invite any legislative delegation to the set so they can see how the money is spent. More and more they’re coming to see what it’s all about and they realize we either have to get in the business properly and jump in with both feet — or get out.” While the state was on top for filming locations and crew prior to rebates, when the incentives happened, South Carolina just wasn’t quick enough to get on board. “We were losing our crew and all of a sudden everyone was moving to Wilmington and Georgia,” Lee says. Luckily “Army Wives” was grandfathered in to stick around, but if you weren’t working on the show, you were inherently unemployed. So far in 2019, two series have wrapped, and another will wrap in early September. Series are good for the state because they spend more money — and also promise a multiyear return. But this also means a commitment from the state that enough money be available for these series to return and recruit additional productions as well. When the funding becomes committed to subsequent series work, as it did this summer with the end of Danny McBride’s newest HBO show, “The Righteous Gemstones,” the local crew is left with no opportunity for employment the rest of the year. As a result, many leave the state and take their families and spending with them. One idea to produce year-round work here is to build a green-screen sound stage and bring the post- production work to South Carolina—in particular Mount Pleasant, says Kathy Landing, Mount Pleasant Town Council member and Economic Development chair, as well as candidate for the First District of South Carolina for U.S. Congress. “The reality for shows, such as ‘Outer Banks,’ is that they film here, but, when they go to produce in terms of editing and sound effects, they are taking all that work back to where post-production is,” typically in Georgia or California, she says. This is especially true for McBride’s Rough House Pictures, which is headquartered on Anna Knapp Boulevard in Mount Pleasant — but sends all post-production work out-of-state. Landing’s main focus is to bring more jobs to Mount Pleasant, and not just as extras on a set or temporary crew — but permanent positions, high-paying roles in tech and production that people could get excited about. It helps that schools like Wando High School and Trident Technical College have programs that could already set students up to funnel into such roles. “If you have a sound stage, everything follows,” says Landing, who suggests the space needed would only require a 50,000-square-foot office and could beautifully fit in Mount Pleasant, potentially on Long Point Road or in Carolina Park. “If we could bring permanent jobs to Mount Pleasant, and the ability to bring something that is going to produce property taxes, business licenses, jobs that allow people to live here more easily, and stay on this side of the bridge, it solves a ton of problems.” Melton agrees wholeheartedly on the needed improvement for regular, sustainable employment. “What we want is a full years’ worth of production so that we can have people working year-round, and spread all over the state,” he said. Compared with other states, South Carolina “Dear John” shooting in Charleston. “Army Wives” cast, from left to right: Brigid Brannagh, Catherine Bell, guest-star Gina Rodriguez, Kim Delaney and Sally Pressman. Photo by Scott Garfield. Photo provided by ABC Studios .