CITY HALL — Politicians tugged from opposite sides on a potential tax break for Spike Lee's movie "Chiraq," even as a state budget impasse brought the program boosting film production to a halt.
While Ald. Will Burns (4th) failed to advance a City Council resolution opposing the $3 million state tax credit for Lee's film earlier this week, South Side state Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D-Chicago) rallied support for the subsidy in the General Assembly.
Burns is still seeking a City Council hearing on the matter, insisting that "Chiraq" would tarnish the reputation of the South Side neighborhoods where the film is set and is currently being shot, including scenes in Burns' 4th Ward. He's said the state film subsidy is intended to enhance Illinois' reputation, and Lee's movie — about gun violence in Chicago — would do just the opposite.
Collins countered that position this week, saying, "Communities such as Englewood need better statistics, not better semantics; a commitment to people, not perceptions; and a focus on public safety and the public good, not merely public relations.
"This film will challenge society’s acceptance of the unacceptable in its forgotten corners," she added. "By generating jobs and economic growth, it will also serve as part of the solution."
Collins said the estimated 3,000 extras, 100 crew members and 20 interns hired by Lee would benefit the hard-hit neighborhood of Englewood, which has an unemployment rate above 20 percent.
She said her office had been "overwhelmed" with expressions of support for the film from constituents, and she claimed the backing of 30 state senators for a resolution urging that the tax credit be granted through the Illinois Film Office.
Burns' office declined to comment Thursday on Collins' efforts to get the tax credit approved.
Yet the point, for the moment, was moot, after Gov. Bruce Rauner recently froze the tax credit for film productions in a budget showdown with Democrats in the General Assembly.
"All film tax-credit applications are being deferred," Lyndsey Walters, spokeswoman for the film office, said on Thursday. She confirmed that Lee's film production company had filed for the tax credit and that it had been moving through the usual channels, but that it was now dead in the water until a state budget is reached that prompts Rauner to revive the program.
Even so, both Burns and Collins continued with their efforts, pending an unexpected state budget compromise.
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