Robert Rodriguez Film at Issue in Incentive Debate
Any film that combines immigration, guns and taxes can’t help but rile at least someone in Texas. Such is the case with Machete — the latest release from one the state’s most prominent filmmakers, director Robert Rodriguez — and the furor surrounding the production's bid for a state government handout.
In the movie, which arrives in theaters today, an ex-federale exacts revenge after being double-crossed by a Texas businessman who hired him to assassinate a Texas politician with the hope of stirring anti-immigrant sympathies among Texas voters. Machete was shot in and around Austin, meaning its creators are theoretically ...
Comments (11)
Joe Estep via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Texas tax payers do not need to give any film company money.
Jon Lebkowsky via Texas Tribune on Facebook
We create all sorts of incentives for potentially lucrative businesses to operate within the state, why would we exclude the film business? Should we be pleased that so much of the film production business that could have been lucrative for Texas has moved to Louisiana?
Jon Lebkowsky via Texas Tribune on Facebook
From the article:
"Early in the decade, Louisiana and New Mexico beat Texas to the incentive bandwagon, and it worked: Those states lured productions — and 30 percent of the industry's workforce — away from Texas, which has long fancied itself the 'third coast' of the film industry. Soon after, New Orleans started calling itself 'Hollywood South.'"
Viviana Rodriguez via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If we give them to defense contractors like Bell Helicopter, why not movie productions?
Nigel Richardson via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It might be economic thickheadedness but it's not exactly a free speech issue though, is it?
Joe Estep via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The State of Texas should not be giving money to any business.
http://www.davidstuff.com/usa/crockett.htm
Jon Lebkowsky via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It would be irresponsible for any state to forego economic development. I think there's bipartisan agreement that economic development is a "legitimate purpose of government" (acknowledging the article that you link). There may be some of a more libertarian persuasion who argue otherwise, but I think that view is shortsighted. Economic incentives build economic health, and that benefits the people and the government alike.
gregrohloff
The essential means for deciding if a grant is awarded should be whether the film was made in Texas, and if a certain amount of money was spent in making the production. As for whether the film reflects favorably on Texas, such a test should apply only to politicians, which means a certain governor would not have been president, and a certain former state secretary of agriculture wouldn't have been governor.
Scott Kilpatrick via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It's not a free speech issue, but it could be viewed as one of racial prejudice.
Scott Kilpatrick via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Well, there's nothing really "prejudiced" about it. Racial discrimination, I should say.
Gary Denton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It is a free speech issue. We should keep our elected drunks and scallawags far away from any involvement in approving or disapproving content.