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'Bag of Bones' Filming Fizzles Without Funds

June 17, 2009 - AUGUSTA -- The makers of a film based on the Stephen King novel "Bag of Bones" said Thursday they are "less likely" to film in Maine after a proposed state tax incentive for filmmakers died in the Legislature this week due to a lack of funding.

"We'll have to investigate other options. The film still takes place in Maine whether we film there or not," said "Bag of Bones" director Mick Garris. "All I can say is that I'm extremely disappointed. We were counting on Maine, but this is a big blow."

Garris and his partner, Mark Sennet, came to Maine in March at the request of local film industry advocates who have been promoting the idea of new tax incentives to entice film and TV productions to use the state for location shooting. King is a native Mainer and has a home in Bangor.

The two met with Gov. John Baldacci and told him they would like to film "Bag of Bones" in Maine during the summer or fall of this year, but would need major tax relief to do it. The film has a $20 million budget.

Rep. Thomas Watson, D-Bath, working with the Maine Film Office and local film industry advocates, proposed a bill that would grant tax credits to production companies spending more than $50,000 in Maine. The credits would range from about 10 percent to 20 percent of what the company spent.

Under the bill, specific credits would also be given to production companies filming in Maine counties where unemployment is highest, who use University of Maine system students in their productions, or who hire Maine workers.

The bill passed through both the House and Senate unchallenged. But when it got to the Legislature's joint appropriations committee this week needing $3 million in funding, committee members said the funding was not available.

The committee agreed to carry the bill over to the next session, which begins in January.

Baldacci supports the bill and would sign it if funding were available, said David Farmer, the governor's deputy chief of staff.

"Maybe we can find some private funding, or the economy will improve and we can find the money next year," Watson said. "It's too good a bill, and too many people worked hard on it, to just give up."

Film industry advocates who worked with Watson on the bill agree. They also agreed with Watson when he said the bill was not about "Bag of Bones" specifically, but about creating incentives that might help the state's economy far into the future by creating jobs and bringing in companies that will spend money here.

"This is just one project, and by the bill (not passing now), we won't be able to use 'Bag of Bones' as sort of an experiment to see how the incentives work, to see how competitive we can be with other states," said Cameron Bonsey, who helped organize the visit by Garris and Sennet and has worked in local film and TV production.

"So the process will be slowed, but it will continue. There are lots of things happening in Maine that show the film community is really coming together," he said.

Set on a lake in western Maine, the 1998 novel "Bag of Bones" is about a writer dealing with his wife's death, a custody battle and a haunted house.

Sennet and Garris also worked together to make the King story "Desperation" into a film in 2006. Garris directed the TV miniseries version of King's "The Shining" (1997) and the miniseries of King's "The Stand" (1994).

By RAY ROUTHIER, Staff Writer, Portland Press Herald, June 12, 2009


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