“There are both tangible and intangible impacts. Tangible impacts are from increase in income for the hotel and local restaurant businesses,” he said. “Future hotel stays and dollars spent at local restaurants as a result of future films made in Hamilton have to be considered as a positive as Hamilton becomes more well known as a great place to film movies.”
He added that, “intangible impacts are the ‘buzz’ created for Butler County residents, the opportunity to see the film industry and actors in action, and an increase in community pride.
Ohio has been actively engaged with the film industry to keep the productions coming to the state and to the Butler County area.
Todd Walker of the Ohio Development Services Agency, said the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit was created in in fiscal year 2010 to boost the film industry in Ohio.
In 2016, Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed into law a revised Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit, which raised the annual incentive cap to $40 million, removed the $5 million per project cap, and changed the incentive rate to a flat 30 percent on all production dollars spent in Ohio.
Since the tax credit began, the Ohio Film Office has provided more than $52 million in tax credits to Ohio productions, which have employed more than 19,000 Ohioans and contributed nearly $205 million to Ohio’s economy according to ODSA.
“Old Man Productions Inc., was approved for $3,381,280 in tax credits — that is amount approved, not received,” Walker explained. “The total budget for the movie was submitted as $15,795,113 with $11,270,933 being eligible for the tax credit.”
According to the film’s specs filed with ODSA, the production planned to hire 885 Ohio residents, which included office staff, crew, talent, extras and post production employees — with a total payroll projected at $4,182,420.
There were 38 non-Ohio residents scheduled to work on the project with a payroll listed at $2,843,477.
Film Hamilton’s Steve Colwell has engaged filmmakers far and wide to come to Butler County to make movies. He counts the Redford effort as a success, and hails the city as understanding what it can do to keep productions wanting to come to Hamilton.
“I think the show of support from Hamilton was incredible, from the city government, to the businesses on High Street, even those who came down just to see what was going on, some from outside of Hamilton even, it was an amazing couple of days and our city shined,” Colwell said. “The one theme that kept holding true throughout the process was how easy Hamilton has been to work with and our city proved we can handle any size of production that comes our way.”
Jenni Hubbard, co-owner of the Almond Sisters Bakery, was one of the business owners that saw some increased cash flow during the movie’s production. She was also asked by the caterer to have the bakery supply some pastries.
“It was such a rush and I loved the hype of the crowd. People flooding the streets to watch the crew. It was so great meeting new faces and it definitely helped business,” Hubbard said.
Courtyard by Marriott General Manager Shawn Stidham, said the movie business is good for his business and the size of Redford’s production locally was a first for the city.
“It was the largest production thus far in Hamilton’s recent cinematic history and it was great to see the excitement of Hollywood take over the town once again,” Stidham said.
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