The Hollywood movie 'Draft Day' starring actor Kevin Costner will be filmed in Cleveland, not Buffalo. Filmmakers made the decision based on the costs associated with shooting in Western New York.
'Draft Day' is the story of a fictitious NFL general manager, played by Costner, who tries to acquire the number one draft pick over the course of a single day. Director and producer Ivan Reitman was in Western New York last month scouting locations for the film.
The cost saving of shooting in Cleveland instead of Buffalo is believed to be roughly $3.5 million.
"It's very often difficult to compete with other areas that have much better incentives. We hope that someday we'll see a level playing field here," said Tim Clark, who heads the Buffalo Niagara Film Commission.
Filming in Cleveland gives the filmmakers a 35 percent tax deduction incentive, which is five percent higher than New York State.
Republican State Senator Patrick Gallivan is seeking to increase that local credit to 45 percent, which he says would have made Buffalo competitive with Cleveland.
"While it would be really cool to have movie stars around and it would be wonderful for our image, what it really would mean, more importantly, is jobs and help for the Western New York economy," Gallivan said.
Common Council members are aware of the much higher cost here, with a resolution approved Tuesday afternoon calling on Albany to raise the tax credit for film production.
Majority Leader Demone Smith says raising the tax credit would balance the higher costs when filmmakers are deciding whether or not to make a movie in Western New York.
"If we get a 15 percent increase in the credit, we can balance it out and it will be an economic generator for the region," Smith said.
Smith says people from the film industry want to make movies here but it's more expensive because there is no infrastructure of skilled workers and production facilities.
"People want to come. They want to shoot in Buffalo. But we don't have full production companies and they have to bring in their own film crews, which is a cost" Smith said.
Clark says the movie could have had a $10-12 million impact on the local economy. He says people still reference the positive effects from the local filming of the 1984 Robert Redford film 'The Natural.'
"There's another part to this that's intangible and that's seeing the Buffalo Bills as America's team and our beautiful city on the silver screen around the world," Clark added. "Unfortunately it's going to move to Cleveland and it won't be us in the spotlight."
