Confessions of a Cranky Critic

I've been asked numerous times about how I think the state's new incentives to the film industry will impact both our state and our professional theater community. To be honest, my overall reaction is this: Cool! Anything that can bring jobs to the state is fine with me.

But will it be a panacea? Probably not for the acting community. Sure, they'll get day jobs and maybe some small parts, but don't expect any major film roles to be cast locally - at least not for a while (if ever).

Why? Because we 're still an unknown quantity here; Hollywood isn't familiar with the excellent talent that live and work here. (They only seem to recognize our acting talent AFTER they move away and establish themselves elsewhere.) So they'll be prone to work with established professionals and marquee names to fill the major roles.

Then there's this - something I've heard more than one insider voice privately: Let one of our actors screw up - by not showing up on time to a call, for example, or by adopting an "I'm a star" attitude - and EVERY LOCAL ACTOR will suffer for it; roles that WOULD have been cast here will suddenly go to actors elsewhere.

The big winners will be the service community - the hotels and the caterers, for example. The technical folks - the set designers and builders - should get plenty of work, too. And  a lot of the support crew - grips, to name one - will be local. (As an aside, I was in a restaurant this past Tuesday night when two guys were seated in the booth behind me. What drew my attention to them was their discussion: One is starting classes soon at Specs Howard to learn skills that can get him a job working on some of the upcoming local film projects. I suspect a LOT of folks will be doing the same thing, too!)

But what do I know.

Someone who DOES have some insight, though, is Barbara Coven-Ellis. With a resume that includes voice-over work, commercials, industrials, film and stage roles - and my editorial assistant on EncoreMichigan.com - Barb's concerns relate to potential conflicts that she predicts WILL occur when local actors and theater executives are faced with some pretty tough decisions to make. You can find her comments here in her weekly column, Bab's Babblings: http://www.encoremichigan.com/features.html.

Your thoughts?