I walked around the Burn Notice studios yesterday. There was set construction going on, but oddly enough, none of the major sets were there. I just walked in, I guess they know me by now, so they didn't say anything as I walked around the massive Expo Center.Did they move the sets to another area of town in anticipation of the Expo Center's demise? A crew was filling up a huge water tank outside in anticipation of a future scene. But the lack of sets got me thinking. Where was Sharon Gless' house and Jeff Donvan's loft?
There still is no word on whether Burn Notice is staying in Coconut Grove or Miami after they vacate the Expo Center in August or September. I ran into Village Council member, Michelle Niemeyer along the waterfront walking her little dog, Hobie, she didn't know anything about the future of the show's location, either.
Sources say they still have not signed an deals with the state of Louisiana. Many fans feel that Coconut Grove and Miami are as much a character in the show as the actors. I still have not heard from the Miami Film Office, they don't like to return emails or phone calls. Guess it's all a big secret. The state dropped many incentives that would keep them here.
But things may be changing. According to the Sun Sentinel, "Gov. Charlie Crist has included $10 million in his state budget for film incentives and two bills to provide corporate tax credits to film companies have been introduced during this legislative session."
According to state officials, the film and tv industry directly employs 100,000 people statewide and another 100,000 in related businesses that support production work and make and survive through the trickle down effect.
"Florida has so much infrastructure," said Michael McLean, an assistant cameraman from Plantation, working on Burn Notice. "We have rental houses, and we have stages. The only thing that's hurting us is we just don't have the incentives to compete with Michigan, Detroit, New Orleans and New Mexico."
Our city can give millions of tax dollars to a baseball stadium that really only generates profits for the wealthy owners, and they pass up a large television show that pumps money into the economy and is an hour commercial on tv each week, seen by millions. Burn Notice is shown around the world and actually shown more than once a week in the US on the USA tv network.
Our politicians also just bailed out the struggling Parrot Jungle Island this week, another private enterprise and farce. It was doing fine for decades at the old location in Pinecrest, but some fool had a big idea to scam the public by getting tax payer dollars to build something that no one visits. Our priorities are really screwed up in this City. Most of our politicians just don't care.
Photo of Jeff Donovan by Dan Littlejohn set photos by Tom Falco
Sources say they still have not signed an deals with the state of Louisiana. Many fans feel that Coconut Grove and Miami are as much a character in the show as the actors. I still have not heard from the Miami Film Office, they don't like to return emails or phone calls. Guess it's all a big secret. The state dropped many incentives that would keep them here.
But things may be changing. According to the Sun Sentinel, "Gov. Charlie Crist has included $10 million in his state budget for film incentives and two bills to provide corporate tax credits to film companies have been introduced during this legislative session."
According to state officials, the film and tv industry directly employs 100,000 people statewide and another 100,000 in related businesses that support production work and make and survive through the trickle down effect.
"Florida has so much infrastructure," said Michael McLean, an assistant cameraman from Plantation, working on Burn Notice. "We have rental houses, and we have stages. The only thing that's hurting us is we just don't have the incentives to compete with Michigan, Detroit, New Orleans and New Mexico."
Our city can give millions of tax dollars to a baseball stadium that really only generates profits for the wealthy owners, and they pass up a large television show that pumps money into the economy and is an hour commercial on tv each week, seen by millions. Burn Notice is shown around the world and actually shown more than once a week in the US on the USA tv network.
Our politicians also just bailed out the struggling Parrot Jungle Island this week, another private enterprise and farce. It was doing fine for decades at the old location in Pinecrest, but some fool had a big idea to scam the public by getting tax payer dollars to build something that no one visits. Our priorities are really screwed up in this City. Most of our politicians just don't care.
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