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‘Machete’ producer says Rick Perry owes him $2 million
But Perry did not keep his end of the deal, and now the producer says the governor, who today ended his candidacy for president, owes him $2 million. Schwartz writes that the Texas Film Commission, which runs the state’s Moving Image Incentive Program, “read and approved the script, letting us know we had qualified for the rebate.” Schwartz told the New York Times in November of 2010 that the state incentive program “is a pretty good model.”
However, as has been well documented by us, after the movie was released and the documents were submitted for approval, producers were denied incentive money due to the commission’s opinion that the film portrayed Texas in a negative light. The movie told the story of a Texas lawmaker who was killing illegal aliens as a solution to immigration problems and Mexican national mercenary (Machete). The film’s subject matter and violence was controversial and led to a letter-writing campaign to deny the film government funds.
Reached for comment the governor’s office said, “the Texas Legislature set the parameters for the film incentive program, including the provision you mentioned that precludes funding for projects that depict Texas in a negative light, and the Film Commission operates the incentive program based on this law.”
Despite the clause in the Moving Image Incentive Program that states that no movie that depicts Texas in a negative light, Schwartz, who has served as producer on three Martin Scorsese films, considers the denial of incentives “good, old-fashioned censorship.”
Read Schartz’s opinion piece in The Hollywood Reporter here.
Comments
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By Michael Levine
January 23, 2012 7:10 PM | Link to this
As for James Cooley’s and Jay’s question as to why Texans should be expected to shell out a rebate for a bad movie, the answer is “because that’s the deal you made.” That “bad movie” brought jobs to hundreds of Texans. Apparently, the state of Texas cannot by trusted keep a deal. Fine. Let’s move film production back to California where it belongs.
By Janie
January 20, 2012 2:46 PM | Link to this
It sounds like they (TFC) maybe didn’t really completely wholly…read the script. If they did, then the contents of the movie were clearly known before production began. TFC and the Gov need to honor the rebate.
By Jay
January 20, 2012 12:26 PM | Link to this
When he says “Rick Perry” owes him $2 million, he means “The Taxpayers” and no we don’t. Why should taxpayers pay for this 1% film maker’s bad movie?
By anonymouse
January 20, 2012 9:31 AM | Link to this
Machete for governor (of Texas)!!!!!!!!!
By Bob Carver
January 20, 2012 6:23 AM | Link to this
This should be a lesson for any company trying to do business with the State of Texas. The state is morally corrupt as their reneging on the contract proves.
By James A. Cooley
January 20, 2012 3:04 AM | Link to this
Why are us average Texas taxpayers expected to shell out a nickel to help out rich Hollywood types? Surely they have enough loot to do all their films about murder and mayhem on their own? I didn’t want to see the movie and I darn sure didn’t want to subsidize its production.
By Bob
January 19, 2012 2:34 PM | Link to this
Maybe Goodhair can use some of the money he’s not going to waste on that presidential bid now.