DC Committe on Economic Development Tightens its Belt

WASHINGTON -- The Chairman of the District’s Committee on Economic Development questioned the accuracy and transparency of the Office of Motion Picture and Television Development’s reported numbers at the DC Council oversight hearing yesterday.

Coucilmember Kwame Brown heard testimony from both public witnesses and the MPTD’s Executive Director, Kathy Hollinger, on the accuracy and effectiveness of the office’s spending in FY 2009. The MPTD has come under scrutiny for lacking capability to accurately measure the expense of projects and quantifying the number of jobs created for DC residents. When asked to produce statistics on the number of jobs and businesses benefiting from the registered film projects in the last year, the MPTD could not.

The MPTD office consists of a staff of three people, they are responsible for approving and distributing permits for all film projects in the District. According to Brown, 64 percent of the MPTD’s budget,$652,000, went to staff salaries alone. The MPTD has the largest percentage of money that goes to staff salary than any other DC agency, according to Brown.

In the last year, as Kathy Hollinger took office, the MPTD has worked to both “initiate, implement and manage projects,” and to promote the city as “film-friendly.” The panel that came in support of the MPTD consisted of a writer and director of an independent film, a location manager and local business owner, and the Executive Director of the DC Film Alliance. They were all enthusiastically in support of the MPTD’s “one stop shop” initiative.

The “one stop shop” program consolidates the process of obtaining a permit through the MPTD. It is a step-by-step process that has become increasingly efficient since its creation. The permit system works in sync with the DC Department of Transportation to ensure that there are no interferences with project schedules. Jim Wareck, Producer of the independent film Below the Beltway, said his project wouldn’t have been completed without the MPTD. “At every step of our process the MPTD treated us like a big motion picture.” Under this new initiative, 326 projects shot in DC and 654 permits were issued in FY 2009.

Jonathan Gann, Executive Director of the DC Film Alliance, said that the MPTD has made a permit accessible in a number of hours instead of a number of days. Gann also commented that in the past obtaining a filming permit in DC required calling New York City and the involvement of multiple third parties. Brown agreed that the film industry in the District needed to rely less on “expeditors” and more on the MPTD’s staff for quick permit approval. This transition would save the project managers up to $2,500, according to Brown.

The MPTD has also done substantial work in emphasizing the applicant pool of workers in DC. Panelist, J. Clan Clagget was hired through this database. They created a database accessible to all registered projects of actors, crew, and local services. According to Wareck, working with DC residents on film projects give them “career-enhancing skills,” that can help with future job opportunities. He also said that “the MPTD gives the district the maximum opportunity to get money from these practices.” In the last year, 2,600 temporary job opportunities were created by these film projects and $26 million were spent locally in throughout the completion of these projects, according to Hollinger. These jobs and the money being filtered into the city is important to help revitalize DC’s neighborhoods in the current economic climate, Brown said.

Even with the success of the ‘one stop shop” initiative, Coucilmember Brown continued to question the reported statistics and key performance indicators of the office. According to Brown, the office’s performance measures have remained unchanged since FY 2008.

The MPTD’s activities and overall lack of transparency “helps [the Committee on Economic Development] better understand where our resources go when we have no resources,” according to Brown. March 1st, the MPTD rolled out a new fee structure for permit applications. However, Hollinger made it unclear to the Committee where the expected $51,500 in fees would be spent. Brown also questioned Hollinger’s allocation of $1.4 million for a Sony picture project that was not exclusively hiring in DC.

Overall the direct manner of questioning by Coucilmember Brown is indicative of the Committee on Economic Development’s stricter approach on spending. Considering the loss of income and unemployment in DC and the unstable economic climate of the country, the DC Council is emphasizing transparency in budgets, accuracy in reporting spending numbers, and a more strategic and conservative spending tactic for the DC government.