Montgomery County State Representative Matt Bradford says State Senate Republicans were penny wise and pound foolish when they passed a budget that eliminates a film tax credit. If it is not restored, he says moviemakers will take their business elsewhere, and the industry has been historically recession-proof.

“This is a real growth industry.  America, to its credit, has a great entertainment industry that we export to the rest of the world.”

He says moviemakers manufacture a consumer product that is in great demand around the world, and they also have a strong secondary impact on the economy.

“The film itself, the production, is great, but it’s all those ancillary services and products that are part of it that drives in so much of the revenue.  It’s more than just the production that you want.  It’s all those things that make it so important to our community.”

Bradford says the senators who voted to eliminate the film tax credit elevated ideology over common sense, and some of them don’t understand that the state gets back more than it pays out in the long run.  If it is not restored, he says it could kill the movie production studio planned for the Logan Square Shopping Center in Norristown.