Malek: Montana needs the film industry and its jobs

Sue Malek

Montana’s movie tax credit score handed the Montana legislature in 2019.  The earnings for Montana in movie jobs and related companies has astounded economists.  It’s not simply filmmakers getting cash, carpenters, electricians, motel and restaurant house owners, lumber yards and native communities have gained tremendously.

The collection Yellowstone spent greater than $75 million within the Bitterroot final 12 months and the Yellowstone prequel 1923 spent an extra $75 million in Butte.  An financial examine, accomplished by the Montana Bureau of Enterprise and Financial Analysis, concludes that these movies not solely created 527 new Montana jobs, $25.3 million in wages, $85.3 million gross receipts to companies and $10.4 million in revenues for Montana, it resulted in additional than $700 million in vacationer spending in our state after Season 4 of Yellowstone was seen throughout the US and in lots of European nations.

My objective in 2019 after I served my final session within the Montana legislature was to carry an trade to Montana that may present good, high-paying jobs to individuals throughout our state, each in small cities and enormous, jobs that don’t require years of extra schooling.  An trade that may spotlight the sweetness and variety of our state.

Making ready for the 2019 session, I labored with greater than 100 Montanans who had been asking the legislature to incentivize film-making in Montana. Our downside was, none of us knew what was wanted within the laws.

Then, alongside got here a former Warner Bros government and legal professional who had a imaginative and prescient of constructing a serious movie studio in Montana.  With no ensures however with huge expertise producing movies in states throughout the US and in Europe, he spent numerous hours shaping a invoice that gives robust incentives for filmmakers to come back to Montana, rent Montanans, practice Montanans, whereas guaranteeing no movie firm will earn a tax credit score till a 12 months and a half after they paid their utility charges to the State of Montana, accomplished work. and are audited. This invoice has price the State of Montana nothing and it earns us a lot.

It was arduous in a brief 90-day session with tons of of different payments being introduced to steer legislators on either side off the aisle that this invoice was the important thing to extra prosperity and jobs throughout Montana.

Now, the proof is in. Movie firms come to Montana, they spend large, they practice and rent Montanans, they renew communities. The invoice was bipartisan in 2019. Increasing it within the 2023 session ought to be straightforward. We should exchange the coal and oil industries which are closing down.

So what’s the hold-up within the Montana legislature?  In 2019, the tax credit score cap was $10 million. After virtually going via at $200 million in 2021, the cap was all of the sudden reduce to $12 million with no rationalization from the Republican majority or the governor’s workplace.

The legislature has proposed a $30 million cap this 12 months. That cap will maintain the present productions in Montana, however is not going to broaden the trade. The cap should be greater.  Why such a low cap on a invoice that’s doing a lot for Montana? Everyone knows we want good jobs and new trade, not simply within the Bitterroot and in Butte, however all throughout our state.

This invoice is just not about constructing high-cost retreats for rich vacationers on our public lands. It is a invoice for Montanans. Name your legislators and the governor’s workplace. Inform them we want the movie trade in Montana and we anticipate our elected officers to do the correct factor —- create good Montana jobs.

Sue Malek served within the Montana Senate from 2013 to 2021 and within the Montana Home of Representatives from 2009 to 2013