The state spent $4.6 million in tax incentives for Public Enemies,"" the film shot in Wisconsin last year starring Johnny Depp, and some officials are calling for reform of the state's film incentive program.
Wisconsin's film tax incentive program, which began in 2008, involves the state paying for 25 percent of the wages of some of the employees who worked on the film.
According to the Associated Press, Wisconsin taxpayers paid for $450,000 of director Michael Mann's salary, in addition to one-fourth of the salaries for several other production workers.
The State Department of Commerce, which told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal that NBC Universal spent only $5 million in Wisconsin for the film, has recommended some changes for the program, such as capping the entire spending on the program at $5 million a year and requiring 50 percent of the production take place in Wisconsin.
Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton wrote a letter to Doyle in January warning that a $5 million cap on the program would make Wisconsin less competitive as a filming location.
According to Ben Nuckels, chief of staff for Lawton, the incentive program was very successful in the first year, and Wisconsin benefited more from the film than the $5 million spent by the film company. He said that number does not count what the crew members spent in the state and subsequent industries that popped up.
Film Wisconsin estimated Wisconsin received $7,455,381 from ""Public Enemies"" from labor, site and location fees, lodging, meals and other Wisconsin production expenses.
""It's tough to analyze what the [film's] ultimate impact is going to be. We're not going to know ultimately what the positive is from it '¦ so it's going to be difficult to ultimately measure,"" said Dale Knapp, research director for the Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance.
