Florida considers ill-advised 'family-friendly' movie tax credit

By Sarah Sluis

The state of Florida is considering expanding a "family-friendly" tax credit bonus to 5% from 2%, adding special language excluding films that promote "nontraditional family values" that has inflamed gay rights groups. Whether or not the bill passes (and it shouldn't, but it's supposed to) I doubt it will be effective in legislating morality. The language in the bill seems closer to the Hays Code (circa the 1930s), which forbade such things as miscegenation, swear words now in PG-rated movies, heavy kissing and depictions of crimes that could serve as "how-tos." The code was also supposed to make sure movies upheld the sanctity of marriage and the home, but all it really did was push certain movie scenes behind closed doors.

Since the 2% credit was established in 2007, only eight films have applied for it, with six receiving the credit. One of the rejects? Confessions of a Shopaholic, rated PG by the MPAA for "mild language and thematic elements," ostensibly because of a scene involving shoppers fighting over a pair of shoes. The movies that have been approved include such family-friendly gems as Old Dogs and a Beethoven sequel. These movies don't seem specifically designed to uphold family values, they only seem as though they somehow managed to avoid offending...and I kind of think that old Republican dudes are just the kind of audience that would approve of a movie called Old Dogs, especially after reading the review. Just as the Hays Code made movies dance around the subjects of adultery, cut to fluttering curtains during sex scenes and throw their gangsters in jail at the end after a film-long spree of violence, this bill will do nothing but reward a random smattering of films--an extra 2% isn't going to make a box-office hit.

Finally, studios hate it when governments try to control what kinds of films they make, and for that reason alone they might choose not to take advantage of the tax credit. Plus, because the credit has such ambiguous language, it would be too risky to base a production there solely because of the credit. The MPAA was originally created to appease the government and replace individual states' censorship boards. And since the 1952 Miracle case, movies have had First Amendment protection (they didn't from 1915-1952), so there's nothing Florida can do when The Kids Are All Right, the Sundance film about a lesbian couple and their children, starts playing at a theatre near them. I wish Florida lawmakers the best with their ineffective legislation, which will do little to encourage filmmaking but much to alienate citizens and the Hollywood community.