cheeky bastids -- feelin' a little persnickity

Just finished getting off the phone regarding a Mercy gig. Turns out as I suspected, that once they give your name in, whether they actually use you for the shot or not, you can't be used again.

If I had known that I would have never applied for this.

What I find interesting is how I met two people who are non-union who have worked on it twice, this past gig being their second time. How they got around that little rule I don't know. I've a feeling they did not get in there through Central. Who else could be casting for this, I wonder?

I know Central keeps a list as I was asked, and I didn't lie, I did state that while I was called for it, they never used me for the shoot, I was never in the scene. But apparently that didn't matter. I think I heard them say they'd get back to me regarding future gigs on this but I'm not sure it matters if that rule is in place.

I'm sure all rules have their reasons.

Meanwhile, watching Fringe. This is the show that's moving to Vancouver to film. All for a 16% tax credit.

It annoyed me hearing the head of the Silvercup Studios talk about New York City having a 'no cap' in order to 'stay competitive'. Okey-dokey. We are at 30%, plus 100% of any surplus goes back to the production company within the year they film, AND we have the Made in NY program that gives them an additional 5%. 35 plus percent is NOT competitive? How? How is Vancouver topping us?

And it's not like these film companies have to pay for permits in order to film -- permits are FREE! So WTF???!

Some of my fellow BG actors are not seeing the whole picture, just how it will affect them, which is understandable. Maybe I just tend to see the bigger picture in all this and know it's not that easy to just blame one person for everything going on in the city and the country. The days of knowing who the good and bad guy is have blurred considerably for many years.

Throughout this, I just went online and researched. Could not find one instance or shred of evidence of actual pullout or end of the tax credit -- just a lot of speculation on blogs and union articles and, I hate to say it, they were all doing a crying wolf.

I'm told I'm just missing the whole point. Hmm. We all know the tax credit isn't forever, just dedicated to the next several years, up to 2012, supposedly, according to the governor's site itself. There's no law set in stone that this goes on in perpetuity. The sense I get is "well, we'll see how it goes." Yet there's all this whipping people up in a frenzy. That's what worries me. It's like a bad social experiment. Anyone who disagrees or isn't caught up in the frenzy is deemed 'not getting it' or gets the 80's Molly Ringwald. You know, the eyes rolling over, mouth slightly open look.

To the business men -- you got your tax credit. Be nice and respectful of it. If you push too much, it could simply be pulled off the shelves altogether. Then what? Everyone goes to Vancouver or L.A and film a LOT of close up shots and use footage from a film library and CGI, baby! Like that won't cost a fortune. Yep it will.