CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

INDEPENDENT FILMS AND TELEVISION PROGRAMMING

HON. JERRY WELLER
OF ILLINOIS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2000

Mr. WELLER. Mr. Speaker, On behalf of Representatives Mark Foley, Robert Matsui, and Xavier Becerra, I would like to express our continued interest in an issue designed to increase the production of independent films and television programming in the United States.

As the Members know, the 1990's have seen an accelerating departure of U.S. financed films and television programs to Canada, Mexico and other foreign countries. The trend has become so pronounced that a new phrase has been coined to describe the impact--"runaway productions." Next year, we intend address this issue, look for reasonable and responsible legislative remedies and work with our trading partners to reverse the trend of filmings outside the U.S. solely for economic reasons. These efforts are supported by a diverse group of entertainment trade associations and guilds and would be targeted at productions costing between $500,000 and $10 million.

The impact of runaway productions has been profound. Runaway production means fewer employment opportunities for individuals directly employed in the U.S. film and television industry. Runaway productions also significantly reduce the business opportunities for the film and television service industries like hotels, restaurants and catering businesses, post production services providing editing and music scoring, equipment rental and transport companies, electrical contractors and many others who service or supply the entertainment industry.

Moreover, these job losses are not limited to Hollywood or Southern California. Many states have seen once thriving film and television industries depart, leaving behind unemployed technicians and craftspersons, business losses and reduced local tax receipts. States like Illinois, Texas and Florida have been particularly hard hit, but even the state of Minnesota, for example, has just experienced its worst year in the past eleven for film and television production. In addition, the individuals whose jobs are lost usually are highly skilled workers who cannot replace their income with work in another sector.

Where are the jobs going? A surprising number are going to Canada. According to Statistics Canada, for example, independent film and television and video production was up 16 percent in 1997-98, the most recent year for which Canadian statistics are available. In British

Columbia, alone, film and television production has increased five-fold since the late 1980s to over $700 million annually. Moreover, full-time Canadian employment in the film and television industry increased by 63 percent from the 1992-93 to 1997-98. The rising trend in Canadian film and television production exacerbates the runaway production problem

because Canadian film and television crews and actors obtain the training necessary to accommodate even more productions.

More U.S. film and television production in Canada and elsewhere in the world means less production in the U.S. The U.S. production share of Movies of the Week broadcast on U.S. television declined from 62 to 41 percent between 1994-95 and 1999-2000 representing a loss of $727 million in U.S. production expenditures. Estimates of overall job loss in the U.S. film and television industry run as high as 23,500 in 1998 alone. To select just one of many examples that demonstrate the impact of this disturbing trend on employment, aggregate wages for musicians performing on film scores in 1999 declined by more than 30 percent from the previous year.

Runaway production is due, in large part, to the concerted efforts of governments to attract U.S. film production. Canada has been particularly successful in this regard. For example, the combination of federal and provincial tax credits in the provinces of British Columbia and Ontario exceed 30 percent of wages paid in connection with a production. The sheer size of these credits has increasingly attracted productions to Canada that might otherwise have stayed in the U.S.

We look forward to working with our colleagues next year in an effort to keep independent U.S. film and television production here at home in the United States.

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