Had drinks with the talented young filmmaker Matt Porterfield last night. After graduating from NYU Film School, he came back to Baltimore to make the critically acclaimed Hamilton, a dreamy, elegiac work about his home town. His next feature, Metal Gods is ready to shoot, with a cast (including Sky Ferreira, above), a script, and a crew lined up. Only one problem: Porterfield hasn’t raised enough money to shoot yet. And he says that Baltimore’s onerous taxes are part of the problem.  A state like Michigan, he says, has many more tax incentives for filmmakers.
According to their film offices’ respective websites, a Michigan film production earns a 42 percent tax rebate compared to Maryland’s 24 percent. Likewise, a Maryland production must spend $500,000 to be eligible for the incentives; in Michigan, only $50,000 needs to be spent. (Porterfield doesn’t blame the Maryland Film Office. He says its hands are tied by the state legislature.)
Porterfield notes that Detroit would be a great place to make a film like Metal Gods.
“But I really just want make movies in Baltimore,” he sighs.