Buffalo Rising Online

its cheaper to do anything as long as its not in new york state

Buffalo is poor and dirty and jobless but it is no where near the decay and crime of Cleveland or Detroit.

Cusack used to be a somebody...now he is just pathetic.

Oh wow another police thriller...as if there arent already 6 of them on each TV station and a dozen that come out every year....one more boring than the next.

Is this the modern equivalent of the Roman Coluseum games...that we vicariously entertain ourselves at the basest feces of our society instead of exemplifying that which brings us together to improve ourselves and our community.

buffaloweiner, you missed the point of this post. This film, whether it sucks or not, should be filmed in Buffalo. John Cusack, whether he is a good actor or not, should be acting on a set in Buffalo.

I thought the Canadian Loonie was a bit higher than the dollar. How can it be cheaper to film in Montreal?! Is anyone from the city government trying to lure these productions from places like Toronto and Montreal?

...actually, it isn't necessarily John Cusack's fault here - he's from Chicago so he is familiar with the value of a project like this in a city like ours. The reality is that the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission is relegated to the brother of a politician working part time with a budget of ONLY $100K and supported by a 4 year old website and absolutely NO marketing or promotion.

Total blame falls on the city/state powers that be in not granting BFLO any $ to attract business. The most basic Film Commission budget should be roughly $250K spent on targeted producer ad-space in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. If we wanted to reach further, an additional $100K could go to setting up booths at some major film markets & festivals.

In typical penny-wise, million-dollar foolish fashion, BFLO ripped the carpet from underneath any efforts to bring ANY film here - if the Factory filmed here (other than 2 days or aerial footage back in February), the town would've rang in somewhere north of $500K - $1MM based on the length of the shoot...

...actually, it isn't necessarily John Cusack's fault here - he's from Chicago so he is familiar with the value of a project like this in a city like ours. The reality is that the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission is relegated to the brother of a politician working part time with a budget of ONLY $100K and supported by a 4 year old website and absolutely NO marketing or promotion.

Total blame falls on the city/state powers that be in not granting BFLO any $ to attract business. The most basic Film Commission budget should be roughly $250K spent on targeted producer ad-space in Variety and The Hollywood Reporter. If we wanted to reach further, an additional $100K could go to setting up booths at some major film markets & festivals.

In typical penny-wise, million-dollar foolish fashion, BFLO ripped the carpet from underneath any efforts to bring ANY film here - if the Factory filmed here (other than 2 days or aerial footage back in February), the town would've rang in somewhere north of $500K - $1MM based on the length of the shoot...

its not just a personal blow to buffalo. Tons of movies film in places that are different from where they are suppoused to be in movies. Gotham city is essentially NYC but the the entire Dark night movie was filmed in chicago

maybe if a movie is ever written about a one-great city that fell to the hands of corrupt politicians, unfair and outrageous taxes, leech unions, and lost 1/2 of its population, THEN they might film it in Buffalo.....

(then again, it probably still would be cheaper to film in canada)

maybe if a movie is ever written about a one-great city that fell to the hands of corrupt politicians, unfair and outrageous taxes, leech unions, and lost 1/2 of its population, THEN they might film it in Buffalo.....

(then again, it probably still would be cheaper to film in canada)

My understanding this is all about the tax breaks. Buffalo News did a story a couple months ago, when it was announced this movie wouldn't be filmed here.

I'm going to get the specific numbers wrong, but NY used to offer a 10% or 15% tax break. Other places offer more. Canada is the big leader, and offers 30%. Patterson signed a law, I thought, that bumped up NY to a competitive 25% or 30%. But too late for this movie qualify.

Like vgs said, NYC loses too.

Can BRO do a little research and let us know what the right answer is? I.E. Answer the original question - why is it cheaper to film in Montreal, and build a fake police station, rather than here on location?

Settle down people...this shouldn't come as a big shock.

The reason why the movie was filmed in Montreal is because of the huge tax breaks filmmakers receive for filming in Canada....it has nothing to do with Buffalo, film commissioners, decling city etc... Heck, there was a Civil War movie filmed a few years ago in Yugoslavia...yes, Yugoslavia, because of the huge tax breaks. The only good sign is that New York State, within the last four months, have now granted a 30% tax credit to productions being filmed in NY - which now evens the field.

"Flim Springfield!"

'Wow! This place must be hot. They don't need a big ad, or even correct spelling.'

One of the issues here is having a functional and responsive film office with the budget to lobby. In the past few months a number of network TV shows (Ugly Betty among them) have made the jump from LA to NYC simply because of the new 30% tax break and the willingness of the Film Office to do the leg work it takes to make the transitions as smooth as possible.

I live in L.A. and I work in the 'business' and there is a constant stream of frustration because Cali DOESN'T offer tax incentives. Runaway Production has been a hot topic out here for years. All the pieces are in place for Buffalo to attract said productions - locations, proximity of equipment, reasonable crew housing and the already mentioned tax breaks. It has SO much to offer, it just needs to get on the stick and do what it takes. But, in reality, when I called the Buff Film Office and left a message, two months ago, I NEVER got a call back. Rule Number 1 - You never know why someone is calling so you call them back. Period.

Honesty, there is NO reason that the Cusack pic should have been shot in Montreal, not now! Someone needs to find out why this happened and make sure it doesn't happen again.

When handed lemons make lemonade.

If they want to make a movie about Buffalo in Montreal then let's make a movie about the recent rioting on the north side of Montreal in Buffalo.

Put Diane Christian and Bruce Jackson in charge of the Advisory Committee for the WNY Film Commision and we wil see lights, sound, camera, action.

Why is it that being more competitive in taxes and other business costs for the movie making business seems so much more important to Buffalo Rising and others - compared to all other types of businesses that have chosen to create jobs at much faster rates elsewhere in recent decades? I don't think I've ever seen Buffalo Rising complain about the very weak private sector jobs growth in Buffalo that's happened over the past few decades because businesses chose to create jobs elsewhere. But when a movie is made somewhere else it's a big disaster demanding government attention. A little strange, isn't it?

I just wish they would have removed Buffalo's name from this entire rewarmed overdone crime drama genre....gladly put cleveland or detroit on it

Louse - If you re-read 95% of my posts you will find that your ideas are my main point - we need to create more work focusing in on the private sector. Obviously it falls on deaf ears (or maybe someone can point me in the right direction) to make this known to the do-nothing politicians. Creating more private sector jobs and businesses would spur development and then movie companies would WANT to come here without tax breaks and incentives, aka the NYC model.

Great point.

Louse - If you re-read 95% of my posts you will find that your ideas are my main point - we need to create more work focusing in on the private sector. Obviously it falls on deaf ears (or maybe someone can point me in the right direction) to make this known to the do-nothing politicians. Creating more private sector jobs and businesses would spur development and then movie companies would WANT to come here without tax breaks and incentives, aka the NYC model.

Great point.

The Savages was filmed mostly in NYC. Shots filmed in Buffalo were minimal; a few driving scenes where the cast wasn't even involved, and a brief visit to Niagara Falls,

You Kill Me used Winnipeg in place of Buffalo. It wasn't even a close approximation ... I mean, they didn't even bother to hide Via Rail logos. The extent of Buffalo flavor was limited to authentic Buffalo News boxes and New York license plates.

Though I do support the entire Bed Tax going to the Buffalo CVB so we can get a new Convention and Conference Center....and the Film Commission can get a new Pre/Post Production Media Facility to attract more of such work than on location shots.