There are certain people in this country who like to belittle “Hollywood” as the social elite. I was thinking about that as the garbage tweets started rolling out in regards to the Oscar mishap at the end of the show. I wondered what the economic impact of a movie or show filming in an area looked like. When people have nothing but horrible things to say about “entitled actors” and “Hollywood liberals,” do they not realize the amount of money that can stream into a community as a result of their endeavors?
I came across the website for the Georgia Department of Economy, who noted this in July 2015: “ATLANTA, July 9, 2015—Gov. Nathan Deal announced today that Georgia-lensed feature film and television productions generated an economic impact of more than $6 billion during fiscal year 2015 (July 1, 2014-June 30, 2015). The 248 film and television productions shot in Georgia represent $1.7 billion in spending in the state.” Six BILLION generated. The whole article can be read: here.
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) released an economic impact statement regarding their 2013 figures and noted: “There were over 302,000 jobs in the core business of producing, marketing, manufacturing and distributing motion pictures and television shows.” 302,000 jobs in 2013 are directly associated with filming movies and TV shows. Wow. The article goes on to note that there were an additional 358,000 jobs in businesses related to distribution. In directly, there are jobs numbers that are boosted because of the increased activity to an area (ie hotels, restaurants, tourism and small businesses supplying needs to those involved.) So, almost three-quarters of a million people (once you factor in the indirect increases) in 2013 can thank the Hollywood elite for employment. The whole statement can be found: here. Another highlight to that statement is that $16.1 billion in public revenues were generated through taxes on goods, income tax, Medicare, Social Security, etc. Not to mention $15.8 billion in trade exports…
There are tons of articles and studies posted over the years. $4.6 million in goods and services purchased – noted for South Carolina (7 films) 2006-2007 (the number I noted does not take wages into account). For New York, the direct and indirect economic impact reached the billions in 2013-2014. There are more articles out there, just do a Google search. University economics classes love to promote theses on the subject.
So yes, they have opinions (as you do, as I do). Yes, they have a platform that allows them access to your living room to share their causes via the TV. They also are able to give voice to issues that otherwise the “everyday Joe” would not be able to shout loud enough for people to hear. HOWEVER, to just dismiss the film industry as nothing more than mouthpieces to the liberal left is selling short the number of people who depend on them for a livelihood or the impact on economics in states that are fortunate enough to encourage filming within their borders. Quit knocking an employer of hundreds of thousands of individuals who are being paid above a living wage. People need to think about the whole picture, not just their narrow view from within their bubble.
Thoughts and Ponderances 