Philly Moms: The Fickle Life of Film

Blog from an extra on the set of "Law Abiding Citizen":

In July 2007, Pennsylvania decided to be generous and provide a $75 million tax incentive to filmmakers and TV producers to draw attention to our lovely state and create new jobs. It worked. The entertainment industry has come running to take advantage of the program that gives back up to 25 percent in tax credits if production companies spend at least 60 percent of their budget here.

While this is all good, you may ask why a stay-at-home-mom cares that legislators are considering revoking the law that placed Pennsylvania in the top five movie-making states. Is it pure pride in my Keystone state that loves seeing it in the spotlight? No, unfortunately, my motives are a little more self-motivated.

In January, on the messiest snow day of this year, my kids started wondering where I was around 6 PM. I had been gone since 5 AM.

I get a call "Mom, Daddy is making us wash the dishes."

I got the giggly satisfaction of replying in hushed tones, "I am still on the set. I know you don't know who Gerard Butler or Jamie Foxx are but I just got to talk to them. Imagine if you got to meet the Jonas Brothers. Okay, so you can relate. I know I've been here all day but it shouldn't be much longer, I promise. Love you. Listen to your Dad. Goodnight."


I don't pretend to think that I will ever have a "real" acting career. But, for a day, I got to be an extra because the opportunities are here, because someone in Harrisburg is handing out incentives, because production companies are willing to take risks on hiring locals that want to step out of normal life and into acting real in fake surroundings just for day.

I loved working on Law Abiding Citizen, which from what I understand actually used few women and will be wrapping filming in the next week. It was fun to see the passionately creative crew and actors doing what they do best. I am just the walking wallpaper. I was probably not even supposed to talk to the big stars but that didn't stop me. They were so cool. Gerard told me how he liked the snow and how he really believed in this movie that he was producing. (I just HAPPENED to be in the right place in the hallway when he took a break.) Jamie entertained us all with his singing in the hallway and asked a group of us what we thought of marriage. Yes, I did admit to being married for 15 years, loving it and willing to stay that way for the rest of my life. My husband would be proud.

These are the stories I can tell my children because I got a chance to be a part of something fun and different. I didn't mind that I had to drive through ice and snow to get there and stay for 13 hours or make last minute arrangements for my kids who just happened to have a snow day. Maybe my kids will be inspired to do something fun someday too and step into the surreal entertainment world that is very real to many people working late hours behind the scenes for many more days.

It is also very real to the legislators trying to figure out how to get us out of debt.

I respect that but please don't take away the incentives for production companies to come here. I am not ready to be done. I just want one more day or two. . . or more. And, it is not just about the money, even if it did qualify for one of my more exotic odd jobs of the year, being a spectator in a courtroom and getting paid for it. It helped me pay my taxes. That must mean something to the state's esteemed decision makers.

http://svmomblog.typepad.com/philly_moms/2009/03/the-fickle-life-of-film.html

that's kind of cool...

Good going Philly Mom.----Unfortunately the "esteemed decision makers" don't give a crap about you. They only care how much money they can put in their own pockets.

They just don't care..PERIOD!