You may have heard that the long-running competitive cooking show Top Chef is coming to Wisconsin for the next season. Of course, we have to wonder: why not us?
The executive director of Minnesota’s Film and TV board, Melodie Bahan, provided us with this statement: "We had productive conversations with them. They love the market and respect the food culture here, and we hope they’ll bring a future season to Minnesota.”
Ok.
But the real answer? We will never know.
I know that’s not satisfying, but I’ll give you some data points so you can sketch in your own ideas inside that frustrating cloud of Not Knowing.
First, you should know that I helped the team that put together some of the ideas presented to Bravo to try to lure Top Chef here. Ideas like: We’re awesome because of Sean Sherman, Ann Kim, Gavin Kaysen, wild rice, Hmongtown, historic and modern Latino foodways, unique Northern Soul, SPAM, Totino’s pizza rolls, Cheerios, Betty Crocker, we’ve got it all, haute cooking, incredible chefs, vital and unique food scenes, the birthplace of icons of food Americana.
We are great. That’s still true! This isn’t about that!
Now, let's examine our unexamined assumptions: Do you think the awarding of Top Chef locations is a pure meritocracy? If you do, why do think that? Is this belief evidence-based—or vibes? You do know that Top Chef is one of the highest-grossing reality shows of all time, right? They do it by being ruthless and creative with their costs and revenue.
No surprise there, right?
But did you know: The founding production firm, Magical Elves, was bought by the UK’s Tinopolis, which underwent such financial troubles during the pandemic that they had to restructure their debt, and the money they promised the Top Chef founders kind of went poof?
And did you know that Tinopolis has been for sale for a while?
And did you know there’s a writer’s strike going on, a SAG-AFTRA strike now too, partly because Hollywood is in a giant shake-out, no one can make money now that Peak TV is over and streaming services have to demonstrate revenue? (If you care about television, read this Variety story, it makes so many things clear.)
Speaking of being ruthless with costs and revenue, who remembers the absolute chaos that unfolded when non-union Top Chef shot in heavily pro-union Boston in 2014. Did Minnesota’s pro-union vibe versus Wisconsin’s anti-union 2015 Right to Work bill play some role here? Speculate, because we will never know.
Now, lean in. Did you know that it is well documented that Top Chef demands that locations foot some of the costs of producing the show? Some of these costs are shifted by a state paying back costs through a rebate program. We typically call Minnesota’s program “snowbate.” But they also enjoy non-rebate cash. In 2011, Magical Elves sued the state of Texas to prevent them from releasing how much they asked Texas to pay, but a lawsuit shook out the details: $600,000.
By 2018, Kentucky was ponying up $3.5 million, or maybe actually closer to $5 million?
By 2019, Philadelphia was like: Oof, this all costs too much, we’re out.
Non-disclosure agreements make all of this super difficult to know the details of.
I talked to official sources. Someone from NBC Universal told me, on background, that they love Minnesota and hope to have Top Chef here one day. Someone local involved in the process told me that Wisconsin has been working on this for 10 years, and Minnesota just got in line, so they’ve been ahead of us for a while, be patient.
Minnesota’s own film support system is complicated. Bahan explained it to me in a letter like this: “Minnesota has two different incentive programs. The rebate (formerly known as snowbate) is a very small program funded at only $500,000 per fiscal year, which provides a cash rebate on qualified expenses. As of 2021 we also have a tax credit program, which was expanded to $25 million last session. This program is NOT a rebate, and the legislature did not appropriate $25 million in the budget to fund it. The credits that are awarded (in the form of a certificate) to a production are just that—credits to be used on a future tax liability, or sold to a Minnesota business that can use them to offset their tax liability. It's confusing for some folks but anytime you talk about incentives you end up with people complaining about ‘my tax dollars’ being spent on Hollywood. Tax credits are not cash and the state doesn't have $25 million in cash appropriated for this program.” Furthermore, “Minnesota's incentive programs (the rebate and the tax credit) are not allowed to be used for competition shows, so Top Chef wouldn't have qualified for an incentive. This is common in many states, so Top Chef mostly produces without incentives—using cash from other government entities and/or private investment.” Thank you Melodie Bahan!
Even with that though, Minnesota’s post-2021 incentives are news to many in the coastal production community, and it’s going to take a while for the news to reverberate through the film community. We’re starting this whole thing not exactly from scratch, but we’re well behind states like Georgia, who have unlimited rebates, and, today, a film shooting-scene that reflects that size of money on the table. Hollywood is run by accountants, not creatives. Speaking of accounting: For every dollar spent on a rebate, $10 to $12 ends up in the community because of restaurant meals, crew members buying houses, and so on, so be patient. Also, as mentioned, Top Chef cares less about ‘rebates’ than full on cash payments like that Texas money, payments that might come from, say, our tourism board.
Did Wisconsin pay cash money to land Top Chef? I don’t know! Someone should file some lawsuits and Freedom of Information Act stuff after whatever year the show’s costs are slotted into and find out. Top Chef, pioneering brand integration of all kinds from the jump, pioneering new sorts of brand integration to this day is probably not going to take this year to say: money, nah, who cares.
So, if you're wondering if money had something to do with those ignoble cheeseheads getting a thing that we noble Vikings wanted and in fact deserved? I would truthfully submit: I don’t know nothing about nothing!
I told you at the top that I was only going to provide an unsatisfying answer. We will probably never know why Wisconsin got a thing we super, super wanted.
But here’s the important part. If you’re twisting out there worrying about whether we're good enough to get Top Chef? I gotta say, the smart money is lining up behind the answer of: It ain’t about that, sweetheart. This is a Hollywood story, and as everyone who’s watched Chinatown knows, some things just happen in back rooms between those big bosses, and they never tell you nothing about it.
In conclusion: Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown. (Top Chef edition!)
This article has been updated to clarify Minnesota’s film incentives.
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