New Study Proves it! Hollywood Requires Tax Breaks!

That may as well have been the headline on this deeply incurious L.A. Times article regurgitating as fact data from a new Runaway Production study by the industrial-policy boosters at the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation, who are trying to coax regional tax favoritism from Sacramento with talk like "California loses more than $10 million in tax revenue when a larger-budget movie costing about $70 million is made elsewhere." California's actor-governor, a professed fan of Milton Friedman, is enthusiastically backing a new bill that would

provide a 12% tax credit on a feature film project's spending in California, with a cap of $3 million per production. Television movies, which have thinner profit margins, could get an additional 3% credit.

Best quote, in an article full of unconvincing paeans to Hollywood's humble worker bees:

Director Taylor Hackford said he shot the Oscar-nominated film "Ray" in Louisiana because of a $3.7-million tax credit.

"I wouldn't have been able to make that film without that kind of help," Hackford said. "I want California to wake up."

My argument here for letting Hackford's audience continue to sleep.