Incentives. Refunds. Rebates. Certified tax credits. Refundable credit. Transferable credit. The Gimme Revolution has film budgets sprouting columns of negative numbers to show all the money flowing BACK to the production. The instant the AD calls WRAP, the money spigot flips into reverse.

Brokers and bankers have turned up, specializing in “monetizing the credits” (turning future rebates into current cash) for a piece of the pie. And states (even whole countries) are lining up to create ever-larger, ever-sweeter pies.

Any way you slice it, filmmakers are being paid to shoot in this state or that. “Come shoot in MY state and we’ll give back 20, 30, 40% of whatever you spend.” As siren songs go, that one is sweetly seductive for most filmmakers. Raising money has never been easy. Investments that provide a guaranteed (and instant) return can be a huge help.

Of course, this has been around for quite a while in somewhat less democratic forms. It used to be called an “inducement” or a “perk.” You may know it as a “bribe” or “the vig.” No matter the name, those cash disbursement usually stopped at the producers’ pockets, not the investors. Now the process has been institutionalized and the pockets are open. Well, partially open, at least to investors.

So more or less, it’s business as usual. We’ve just changed from personal payoffs to a state-sponsored lottery. I don’t intend to look askance at this gift. But I’m amazed that so many states are competing to give away more, more, more money.

Two thoughts come to mind.

(1) Films bring in good business. It’s a great investment for states. The bigger the giveaways, the greater the growth in new businesses. Studios, rental houses and post facilities are popping up where vacant lots once stood. And in places like Michigan, state investments are buying on-the-job training for newbies and wannabe filmmakers. A whole, new industry is being primed. Of course, had Hollywood decided to produce cars, Detroit might not have been quite as happy. But they didn’t. And now we have an unlikely new film capital sprouting in the “The Flyovers.”

Hollywood ain’t very pleased right now. But who’s the blame for that…? And that brings me to my second thought.

(2) Movies are too damn expensive to make. Oops, said it. Hollywood didn’t want you to know that. But in my mind, basic as it may be, $150,000,000 seems like a bit much to grind out 90 minutes of vaguely entertaining entertainment. Why the hell should any move cost so much…?

The higher the budget, the bigger the salaries. Or vice versa. So there’s quite an incentive for studios, producers, executives and stars to deliver ever-more-expensive movies. That forces the megaplex to gouge $10, $12, $15 a ticket so it can reimburse Hollywood’s vig. Then, like mothers at a bake sale, theatres are reduced to peddling overpriced popcorn and carbonated-sugar-water to pay their own bills.

Hollywood keeps increasing Hollywood’s budgets. They’ve been building their own disaster and this one’s not fiction.

Now can you guess who’s first at the trough for a handout? Yep, Hollywood, fat palms outstretched for more grease. If little filmmakers can push into line (in time, before the money’s all gone) then there’s cash for everyone. Except these state coffers aren’t infinite and big bully Hollywood is there first, grabbing a whopping huge slice of the pie.

By the way, that’s the same Hollywood that until very recently has refused to have any film incentives (refunds, rebates, whatever) in its own state. Of course, they’re justly afraid that it would cost them their own tax dollars, which would slice into their own profits. So they’re pissed that the other states are draining their business, but far too greedy to compete for that business. The film industry’s head honchos have never been known for playing nice or sharing their piece of the pie.

Instead, Hollywood’s happy for a handout of State welfare, as long as it’s some other State shouldering the burden. Happy, hell. They’re addicted to it. It’s part of their cashflow analysis. Hollywood budgets are so top-heavy that Hollywood couldn’t survive without State-sponsored film welfare.

Here’s my solution.

Any time a film costs more than, oh…. Let’s say something outlandishly huge, right on the boundaries of obscenity. $75,000,000.00. You’d think that ought to be enough to make a decent movie. Any time a film exceeds that grotesquely huge number, everyone making over $100K has to take a 10% pay cut. And keep on cutting until the film’s budget is back down to a mere $75M. That might whack up some of those multimillion-dollar purses, defer some deferments and slash gross income sharing. Gross, indeed.

Okay, now that we’ve lopped the head off Hollywood, let’s get back to the states.

State Film Offices have to stop encouraging over-priced productions. These outsized budgets exist only because the states are picking up so much of the tab. I’d suggest a money czar to review every film budget, nipping and tucking at overpaid producers and egregiously overpaid stars.

Oh, productions could still pay whatever they liked, of course, but the states shouldn’t be partners in the budget’s irresponsibility.

Some states have already set caps on reimbursements. Every state needs to do it. Hollywood will be pissed, that’s for sure. Maybe pissed enough to take their marbles and go home. But that just leaves a bigger slice of the pie for all the smaller (and usually independent) filmmakers who really need those rebates to survive. Not to thrive, mind you, just to survive.

Wouldn’t that make sense? Hollywood, which refuses to share its bounty, gets to go home and support its own overpriced industry. Everyone else, struggling to make a movie with budgets as trimmed and fit as a long-distance runner, can afford the films they’re making. And the States get to help the whole indie industry survive. Here, there, everywhere.