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Posts Tagged ‘Michigan’

Frank DeMartini

Bullying Screen Actors Guild Does More Harm Than Good

by Frank DeMartini

A few months ago I wrote a column about the effect IATSE’s wage increase in Michigan would have on future production in Michigan.  Just recently, the company I have my first look deal with decided to produce another picture in Michigan and was informed my column made it impossible for IATSE to negotiate or help us in any way.  They basically said this is the deal, take it or leave it if you want to shoot here; your employee ruined it for you. 

My company then proceeded to disavow any knowledge of my column and said that what I write is of my own doing and not the policy of the company.  This is true.  It is my own doing.  No one tells me what to write or censors my editorial content. 

rrrr

I still believe IATSE is harming the burgeoning film industry in Michigan.  I believe that if IATSE was doing the right thing in Michigan, the state of Michigan would be putting all of the other tax-incentive states out of business.  Producers would be running there in droves. 

Unions are supposed to be the mechanism to level the playing field for the working man.  Their job is to protect the working man from “the man,” and to keep their members employed fairly.  Isn’t employment what unions are really all about:  Especially now when unemployment is so rampant all over the United States, particularly in Michigan and California.  You would think the unions would be bending over backwards to work with “the man” in a mutually beneficial situation.  Let us all do whatever is necessary to keep employment in the United States; not Eastern Europe or Asia.  (more…)

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Posted Oct 29th 2009 at 5:02 am in Entertainment, Featured Story, News | 37 Comments

Michael S. Rulle Jr.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter: Real-Life Walt Kowalski

by Michael S. Rulle Jr.

Polish American Walt Kowalski, played to anti-hero perfection by Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino, stands against corruption and lawlessness and wins. But not before sacrificing his life. Kowalski is a Korean War veteran and retired auto worker living outside of Detroit. He is old and tired, and just wants to be left alone after the death of his wife. But fate and duty had other ideas. He carries a long held guilt over killing a surrendering soldier in the Korean War. His death redeems, not just his soul, but the soul of his town.

Events lead Kowalski to resist a local takeover by a Hmong youth gang. The Hmong are an ethnic Southeast Asian people, primarily from Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. In real life Michigan, they are among the fastest growing immigrants. Many Hmong people emigrated from South Vietnam after Democrats shamelessly withdrew monetary support from South Vietnam in 1974. The Paris Peace Agreements thus became toothless and North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam. “Boat people” fled Vietnam and the insane, murderous Pol Pot created the Cambodian Killing Fields. (more…)

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Posted Aug 28th 2009 at 1:09 pm in Film, Politics | 58 Comments

Frank DeMartini

Unions Seem Determined to Kill Michigan Film Industry

by Frank DeMartini

A lot can be said about unions supporting wage earners and creating a middle class. However, a lot can also be said about unions ruining this country.  Case in point: Michigan.

You would think that after the UAW destroyed the auto industry and the tax base in Michigan, the people of the state and the unions based there would have learned. However, this is not the case. In the latest union disaster for the state of Michigan, the IATSE has decided that the blooming film industry in the state must be stopped before it even gets started.

As most of you in the film business know, the state of Michigan has one of the most lucrative tax credit/rebate programs in the industry. The state gives you 40% of every qualified dollar that you spend in the state. In addition, if you shoot your film in a few core areas such as Detroit, you will get an additional 2%. That’s a whopping 42% of what the producers’ qualified in Michigan spend. On a 20 million dollar budget, this can amount to a gift from the state of Michigan of approximately 6.5 million dollars after you subtract the non-qualified costs. (more…)

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Posted Jul 17th 2009 at 2:49 pm in Film, Politics | 128 Comments

Mr. Wrestling IV

Is There Hope for Alec Baldwin? Or Just Change?

by Mr. Wrestling IV


Just a Couple of Supply-Siders

Progressive liberal Democrat Alec Baldwin sent many heads spinning all over the blogosphere when he recently said this:

I’m telling you right now,” the actor warned, “if these tax breaks are not reinstated into the budget, film production in this town is going to collapse, and television production is going to collapse, and it’s all going to go to California.

Now the rich absurdity of a statement like that coming out of the mouth of Alec Baldwin has been chronicled many places all over the web (most notably in the Wall St. Journal), and the fascinating “why?” of it all is still being sorted out.  Has he had an economic spiritual awakening?  Has he gone insane?   Or is he simply a narcissistic hypocrite who only wants tax breaks for the industry that pays him exorbitant amounts of money for saying words other people write during the two or three grueling, catered days a week that he actually has to go to work?  (more…)

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Posted Mar 16th 2009 at 11:27 am in Celebrity News, Politics | 105 Comments