Erin Wagner, Co-Executive Director, The Greater Philadelphia Film Office
In an interview with Invest:, Erin Wagner, Co-Executive Director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, highlighted multiple programs in place to support film professionals and production studios. “It all comes back to bringing jobs and keeping our crews working.”
How has your leadership transition influenced GPFO’s operations?
My co-executive director, Nicole Shiner, and I presented the proposal to hire internally to our board chair, considering that we are in a niche business. GPFO is the only film commission in Philadelphia, so who knows it better than the two women who have been here for over 20 years. Obviously we have our supportive board, but sharing the experience with Nicole has been wonderful because we can lean on each other and bounce new initiatives off each other. We are glad to be able to bring so much institutional knowledge into our new roles. We’ve also been able to continue business as normal, getting in touch with filmmakers and production companies all over and continuing to bring business to our region.
What would you highlight as the key milestone for GPFO this year?
We had a great month in March. The world got to see a whole bunch of television shows set in Philadelphia — Philly is having a moment on the big and small screens. All of these will show the world what Philadelphia is made of, and how the different neighborhoods are shown. There’s a big international spotlight right now on streaming and being available to so many people all over the world. So, it’s nice that we can show off a little bit. That always affects things like tourism and it does help get the word out for Philadelphia in advance of the country’s big birthday coming up. It’s indeed a good time to be here.
What projects have made a significant impact for the regional economy?
Mare of Easttown, for sure — an HBO series with Kate Winslet and Jean Smart that I have been calling a zeitgeist because it’s such an amazing project. Hustle with Adam Sandler was a big hit on Netflix. Audrey’s Children, an independent film, is out right now and it’s doing well on Rotten Tomatoes. Starring Natalie Dormer and Jimmi Simpson, it is the telling of Ronald McDonald House Charities’ evolution in association with Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
There is Dope Thief on Apple TV+ right now, shot in the area and spent $122 million while they were here for over 224 production days. We also have another HBO show coming out in the fall — the follow-up to Mare of Easttown called Task, also by Brad Ingelsby. They spent $113 million over 177 days in the region, and hired 777 Pennsylvania employees. So, the numbers do show how big productions are when you have a series. They produce more work for people because they’re here for a longer period of time.
How has the Greater Philadelphia Filmmakers (GPFM) program supported aspiring and experienced film professionals?
We’ve had a consistent Filmmakers program since 2001, and the highlight has always been our fiscal sponsorship program. Sometimes foundations will only give grants to a 501 c 3 organization, which we are, so we work with productions as a fiscal sponsor to assist in grant applications. GPFO usually gets involved in projects when they’re ready to get into production phase, but in this case, the fiscal sponsorship helps raise the money. Filmmakers also has a lot of networking programs that evolve over the years, depending on the needs of the filmmakers in our region. We’ve always been nimble and created programs as we go, whether for training or networking opportunities.
The “Set in Philadelphia” Screenwriting Competition (SIP) comprises a grand prize of $10,000, a prize for The Oscar Micheaux Award for a Screenwriter of the African Diaspora, a prize for Content for Kids, and many more. You don’t have to be a local Philadelphian to enter, but your script has to be set in Philadelphia. We just announced the winners for 2024 on our website. One notable winner is Adam Goldberg, the creator of The Goldbergs on ABC, who basically turned his childhood into a beloved TV show. There’s also Derek Dressler, an Emmy Award winner and a bigwig at Disney right now.
One program that dips in and out of Filmmakers, depending on funding, is the Tripod Initiative. If you think about a tripod, the three legs become a student filmmaker with a mentor filmmaker, partnering with a local nonprofit who needs a video that they may not be able to afford. We will produce for them at a reduced cost while the student gets training, and the professional “give back” while earning a stipend. The newest initiative we’re trying to expand is workforce training. It is in early stages, but Tripod has been the basis for this training.
How do you attract new productions to the diverse filming locations in Philadelphia?
One of the biggest initiatives of mine going into this role was to tell people about the beauty of filming in this region, our hard-working crews, and what we have to offer. Every day, we send out film location packages to market the area. And our locations speak for themselves, they really do. We cover Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Philadelphia, and Montgomery counties, a vast array of amazing locations.
We just went to Los Angeles to meet people in production and government affairs and dispel some misconceptions about filming in Philadelphia. My big line lately is, “We can go 40 minutes from corn fields to urban neighborhood settings, and you can’t get 40 minutes from one side to the other on the upper east side.” We’ve done a good job of putting the word out there that Philadelphia is a great place to film. It’s social media posts, it’s word of mouth, it’s making meetings. Not only for the studios, but also for our local community, give us a call; we’re happy to help. We work from students to Spielberg, as I like to say.
The biggest challenge of ours has been reminding people that Pennsylvania has a great tax credit program. It’s a competitive program starting at 25%, going up to 30% if you film and do any of your post-production work at a qualified facility. There’s a bill announced this week that would increase the tax credit from $100 million to $125 million. If Pennsylvania does that, it’ll go a long way to remind the industry that we’re serious about bringing you here and we’re willing to make that commitment. Productions will look at five different cities, run numbers, and if you’re not competitive with the incentive, oftentimes we don’t even get the next call about locations — which is where we will shine and win people over, but the money has to be right.
The other thing we always like to remind productions is that there’s no hotel tax in Pennsylvania. If you’re staying for more than 30 days, it saves you 13% to 14% on that bill. In Philadelphia, city- and state-owned locations are fee-free and in general, you don’t need permits to film on streets. Different communities have also been getting a lot more work lately, getting more film-friendly and are looking forward to productions coming into their regions. It does bring a sense of pride when they see themselves on the screen.
What steps are GPFO taking to improve labor relations and ensure a stable workforce for incoming productions?
There’s been a large misconception that unions here are impossible to work with. The world’s changing and these unions are changing, too. They’re seeing that progressing towards bringing in new workforce development and working with commissions are the way to go. Historically, our office has had a pretty decent relationship with them, and I look forward to strengthening that. I hope to bring some new people into those unions, including underserved youth. We have been working with a couple nonprofits who are doing workforce development with youth who just like movies.
There’s a couple government organizations that have been influential and beneficial, especially in learning what it takes to be a highly skilled worker and entering the workforce when you don’t have a college degree, or how to get the skills to do something you love. We also have the best film schools in the country, and we’re working with organizations to put cameras in people’s hands who might not want to join college. They can work towards a career that maybe they never thought they could have.
What is your key priority for the next year?
It’s definitely the workforce development plan. It’s a puzzle and we’re trying to piece it together. From indies to big shows, we bring multiple productions to the area on a daily basis. It all comes back to bringing jobs and keeping our crews working.
