This is as shocking as the thread about Paul Sorvino doing the same exact thing.

strangeguitar: This is as shocking as the thread about Paul Sorvino doing the same exact thing.

This

This is what public funding for 'the arts' and 'the humanities' does. It doesn't feed the have-nots, it indulges the already-haves.

Who farking cares? His daughter is hot. Post pics of Mira or the kitten gets it. Wait. The kitten gets it either way.

Who were the geniuses that approved this?

Oh well, better than investing in housing/finance related securities, I suppose.

Your tax dollars at work.

Repete

In showbiz for a few hours already

How do I get an 'investment' like that? I want to make a film about me driving sweet cars around.

Lemon-Lime Malthus: Who were the geniuses that approved this?

Oh well, better than investing in housing/finance related securities, I suppose.

Once again the conservative sandwich-heavy portfolio pays of for the hungry investor!

If only there were some phase to describe a morose state experienced while in Lackawanna.

I'd rather fund a war.

Not amused.

Don't worry, Dwight is on the case!

Amused!

This is like the thread about Scranton, PA, being worried about the same thing!

On the Showbiz page!

Do you have wana?
No, I lack a wana.

What could possibly go wrong? Forgeddaboudit.

lambelly: I'd rather fund a war.

I'd rather not have the government threaten, in a convoluted way, to kill me if I didn't fund the arts/wars. Because that's what happens when you refuse to do what the government says; they kill you. Say you don't pay your taxes, first they send you a letter demanding your money. If you don't pay, they send another letter demanding your presence in court. If you don't show up, the court finds against you in absentia and likely sends thugs in blue uniforms around to kidnap you so you can be locked into a very small room for a very long time. If you defend yourself against the kidnapping, the thugs are not merely allowed, but socially obliged to kill you for your trouble and are regarded as heroes.

So remember, don't question the government's motives, and pay your taxes like good boys and girls. If you don't, they're more than willing to kill you.

"I like the people I work with, generally. With four exceptions. But someone committed a crime. And I did not become a Lackawanna County Volunteer sheriff's deputy to make friends. And by the way, I haven't."

"But, he adds, elected officials don't necessarily have a good understanding of the movie business. And he resents any implication that he has been less than forthright."

Translation:
"You don't understand. That $40,000 lunch of fresh sushi and pickled balute is just the way we Hollywood types roll. We need to do that to attract the money guys."

How much of this do you think was in-kind stuff? There's probably a standard fee for getting a filming permit or blocking off roads, and if the county waived the fee as part of an "investment", it'd be different than writing a $500,000 check. Could be wrong, though.

pedanticmofo: lambelly: I'd rather fund a war.

I'd rather not have the government threaten, in a convoluted way, to kill me if I didn't fund the arts/wars. Because that's what happens when you refuse to do what the government says; they kill you. Say you don't pay your taxes, first they send you a letter demanding your money. If you don't pay, they send another letter demanding your presence in court. If you don't show up, the court finds against you in absentia and likely sends thugs in blue uniforms around to kidnap you so you can be locked into a very small room for a very long time. If you defend yourself against the kidnapping, the thugs are not merely allowed, but socially obliged to kill you for your trouble and are regarded as heroes.

So remember, don't question the government's motives, and pay your taxes like good boys and girls. If you don't, they're more than willing to kill you.

You've made this unnecessarily complex. Those men in blue will shoot you to death for drinking a soda in your own bed, or throwing a cigarette out of a car window. Not paying you taxes and all that is a more sure way to die, but it's awfully time consuming.

Lackwit County? It figures: it's in PA

what doesn't government bankroll these days?

/cut the dang spending

If it's ballerina porn then it's worth every cent.

Lackawana County is known for it's certain hidden treasures, laid deep inside of the pearl of the Poconos.

Head shops.

Yeah because government funding of the arts is asinine. Tool.

chaddsfarkprefect: Lackawana County is known for it's certain hidden treasures, laid deep inside of the pearl of the Poconos.

Head shops.

that's so radical, man!

"About a ballerina" is not a sentence. Don't begin it with a capital letter or end it with a period.

As incentives go, $500K is nothing. The movie and music industry get tax breaks from state and local governments on a regular basis. I call it more honest than offering tax breaks worth far more as an "incentive" (read "bribe") for filmmakers to work in a given location.

For example, New Jersey gave $11.5 million in tax credits to 11 films. That's just New Jersey, just in one year. $500K is peanuts, and isn't a "news item" to anyone with a still-firing neuron.

Of course, it's Fox News, so I'm sure this will turn out well.

That money went to a kick-ass party, that's where. Believe me, I went and crushed a cup of wine or ten.

I have no problem with a city government funding the arts. Say if they open a portrait and sculpture gallery for local artists if there's a lot of demand, or a modern art studio, or a music hall, whatever it is a lot of people in the town would be willing to take part in and embrace. It's not funding the arts to pay for an indie film. It's wasting money. If you want some cred for helping a burgeoning film director give them some small credit on film supplies and let them film scenes at the mayors house or in the police station (supervised) or something as long as it's not blocking regular activity. Don't piss taxpayer money away on it. Then artists see they're welcomed and supported by the city and the taxpayers can't get mad.

It's just the same for a county only slightly bigger.

Federal support I'm still not sure how to feel about.

He says he won't get paid until the county and other investors see a 20 percent return on their investment.

Ah, there's the story. Greedy pols have gotten cold feet.

I live in Lackawanna county (Scranton) and its about as corrupt as it gets. The last commissioners really stuck it to the county taxpayers. They put one of their goomba friends in charge of workers' comp claims and in return he ripped off the county $450k+. The guy did time for beating up his girl in the middle of a downtown street, trying to pick up a hooker (ended up being an undercover cop). He's got quite a rap sheet, yet they put him in charge Then the commissioners hired an invesitagor with no certification to invesitagte the claims. He was a friend of the commissioner and did no work while collecting 300k. There will probablly be more that'll go down, including the majority commissioner, just a matter of time. This whole area has been like this for a long time. It's like an episode of The SOPRANOS.

If they don't make a return on the investment, will they have the Lackawanna Blues?

/I know, wrong state.

Okay, if nobody else will...

Here's another.

I am a resident of Lake Ariel, PA and a person with a small business in downtown Scranton i'm very glad to know that the fortune they get out of me on a weekly basis for parking meaters I have to run out and "plug" every two hours and forget about is going to give some rich movie guy... another movie... I'll remember that the next time the sidewalk in front of some random building collapses.

"If it's a good film, hopefully we'll receive a return on our investment," O'Brien said. "If it's a lousy film, we probably won't."

Hopefully you won't be investing in farking films next time.

From RTFA this 599k wasn't an endowment, it was an actual investment. Government agencies do it all the time, it's just this time they chose to invest in an independent film rather than a stock portfolio. The movie needs to make a whopping 1.56 million for them to get a 20% return on their investment. If it pays off, then it was a good investment. f it doesn't, well then there is a reason most of us are striving for a 20% return on our money isn't there?

/You may resume your ranting at the funding of the arts now

Lackawanna see that film anyway!

State and local governments piss their money away on crap the voters don't want, then threaten to get rid of police/firefighters/etc if the voters don't approve higher taxes. This has been going on for years.



/DNRTFA

You think it's bad in Lackawanna? Come on down to Luzerne. We make Scranton politics look like a Sunday school outing.

The roads in PA are an example of perfection. Only in Pa will you find road crews where 1 man is digging and 5 are supervising. Only in Pa will you find road crews patching the patches of patches of patches of poorly laid roads. And when it comes time to repave the roads they repave half and call it a job well done.

Cordaro and Munchak would have been better off buying $500,000 in lotter tickets.

The part I like the best is that Cordaro is going to be listed as an "Executive Producer" on the film...like he used his own money to fund the film.

Someone's gonna get indicted, count on it.

Also, Lackawanna County politics are just as bad as Luzerne County politics, our corruption is just more subtle than Luzerne...it's tough to be subtle when you're dodging bullets from the drug war occurring in down town W-B.

Or, for a good time, you could come to Wayne County right next door, where town councilors serve underages and psychopaths on their main street bars. It's all fun and games until someone gets his throat slashed!

OptimistPrime: Or, for a good time, you could come to Wayne County right next door, where town councilors serve underages and psychopaths on their main street bars. It's all fun and games until someone gets his throat slashed!

I'm from Wayne County (Sterling!) so I'm really getting a kick out of this.

Hans Brix: Here's another.

Niiiiice.

Everyone else, almost: You are wrong. Wrong, wrong, great big bucketfulls of wrong. First of all, film is *always* worth the investment. I must have been living in an isolated bubble of filmmakers for too long not to see that as completely obvious.

Second, it does make sense from a purely economic perspective. It stimulates the local economy. Where do you think that money went? It went to hiring locations, transport, crew, actors, equipment, facilities, catering, and many more of the endless things that are needed to make a film.

All of it going to local individuals and businesses. You call it waste, I see it as a legitimate investment in arts, culture, promoting the area, and a way to indirectly return thousands of dollars to the people who paid the taxes in the first place.