I stumbled upon this article this evening that was posted yesterday on a website called Jose Lambiet's Page 2 Live -- it's about a fundraiser involving the cast and crew of Burn Notice, which was held on Key Biscayne yesterday (the purpose of which is to help raise money to lobby Florida's legislature about restoring filming incentives). I honestly think that Florida should continue to provide as many filming incentives to a show like Burn Notice as possible, because they film for six months and would pump a lot of money into the local (and state) economy...

[although I have to say, I just read a very disturbing article about how there are so many foreclosures going on in Fort Myers, Florida. Apparently the last step before going into foreclosure on a property is to have a judge sign off on it. And so this article talks about how the court in Fort Myers is now known as the "rocket docket" because they hear up to 1,000 court cases A DAY. The situation in Florida is sounding increasingly dire economy-wise. Sigh...]

Anyway - here's the link to the article.

Burn Notice to Tally: We’re coming for you!

Posted by Jose Lambiet | cash, crash | Sunday 22 February 2009 11:37 am

Hot under the collar: The folks who make USA Network’s SoFla-produced Burn Notice.

The cast and crew of the successful vehicle for up-and-coming heartthrob Jeffrey Donovan and Miami’s own Sharon Gless (Cagney and Lacey) are holding an afternoon fund-raiser today near Miami. ...

Thanx Phi, Jeffrey sounds like such a likable guy getting involved like that, what would happen to burn notice if they couldn't film in florida? Would they go somewhere else and just say its miami? Thoughts?

Thanks for sharing this news Philippa. Its great to see the cast and crew holding such an event. These incentives, to a lot of people, seem like the states giving money to production houses that have plenty of money, but I think its pretty clear that if shows like Burn Notice aren't given a reason to stay in Miami, the majority of people that would be hurt are average working class folks. Folks like the craft services person who was quoted in this article. Its great to hear that Sharon and Jeffrey were there.

I wonder if there are pictures anyplace?

Yeah, thanks, Phi. I wish it were better news; I believe BN got about $25 million in incentives last season.

Florida is hurting. Florida has tourism and real estate. In the past, even if one was down, the other was up. Revenue from real estate development and sales is awful, and they just passed a bunch of property tax breaks last year, making it even worse. For the first time in 25 years, more people moved out of Florida than in last year. And tourism is way down. We are one of the three states -- along with California and Nevada -- most hurt by this recession. Two of the four counties I sell in are among the top 10 nationwide in foreclosures last quarter. They are laying off people in government; there's talk in some counties of laying off teachers, which is about as bad as I've ever heard.

Gov. Crist was on TV yesterday showing how they will spend most of the latest stimulus package coming to the state to plug holes in the education budget.

The BN cast may be better off spending the money they raise on the show than on a lobbyist, I'm sorry to say.

It is pretty awful here now. My husband was laid off and can't find any kind of work at all. I've been working like a mad woman to make up for it (and I'm not making up for it - but I figure we'll be less in the hole, anyway). Hence my absence from you beautiful people.

FL Realtor, I hope you're doing OK. I have relatives in real estate in Orlando and I think they are pretty much out of work.

thanks for the news, Phi! (I always want to type Fi instead of Phi -- )

well props to SG, JD & the BN cast & crew for making an effort to keep their show local. I can only hope their lobbying will be successful, but as mentioned, it's tough out there.

I feel like we've been on a roller coaster all the past year with all the filming incentives/convention center drama & the 'will they/won't they get kicked out', etc. I'm sure the cast & crew wish they could focus on the show instead of all this location issues, as well. There's so many threads on here - somewhere in there are lots of ideas & passionate opinions on BN if it weren't filmed in Miami, doing a search on 'convention' pulls them up, if I recall.

I think the $25million number was on BN spending, that this Nov. 2008 MiamiHerald article mentioned:

"Burn Notice says it employs roughly 110 full-time local cast and crew members, and reported spending $25 million in Florida since filming its pilot at the expo in early 2007. It remains Florida's biggest production, receiving roughly $4 million in state film subsidies over two seasons and is slated to receive another $3 million for the third season, according to the governor's film office." This article talked about incentives they got as well.

Basically, this recession just sux all around. So sorry to hear about your husband's job, Brenna, and sounds like the real estate biz is taking a real beating, FloridaRealtor. I hope things get better for you all soon.

Phi, thanks for sharing the article, and kudos to the cast and crew for doing what they can to raise awareness about film incentives and all their attemps to keep the show local. Indeed, there are so many people impacted that most don't think about -- everyone from craft services to construction crews, transportation, wardrobe, art departments ... the list is endless. And if shows like BN continue to pack up and leave Florida, all these people are out of work. It's very sad and very unfortunate.

(I'll never forget my first time walking onto the set of a real film shoot -- a commercial being made with a professional hockey player during my internship in Philadelphia. I had some idea of what went on behind the scenes, having a background in TV news and four years of study in electronic media, but to see the number of people involved was a bit overwhelming. It was like a small army just to shoot a 30-second clip of a guy on a motorcycle talking to a camera. (And they did it again, and again, and again ... even though it always looked fine to me )

Anyway, I can't imagine a show like Burn Notice being anywhere but Miami ... just like you couldn't imagine a Law & Order episode outside of New York. And yes, budgets are being squeezed to the penny all around -- but hopefully some of these legislators begin to understand what a good thing they've got. If a television show is pumping that much money into the local economy, it makes no sense to try and force these people to go elsewhere.

As we all know, there's no quick fix to the economic woes our country is facing. But I still don't understand the logic behind making a bad situation worse (like wanting to tear down the convention center to make another parking lot for the city of Miami. How anyone thought that was a good idea is beyond me)

Thanks Philippa for the article, it was a very interesting read. Brenna I am really, really sorry about your recent troubles and I will include you and your family in my prayers this evening. I hope everything turns around for you soon I really do. This is why I was saying I can't see SAG ratifying a strike, when things are just starting to get back to normal now for a lot of shows post the writers strike that ended, when last March? Is that right? There is way too much at stake to do something so economically irresponsible, IMHO. It wasn't just the studios that were hurt by the strike, but things you don't think of like local restaurants that didn't pull in the normal numbers because production were shut down and thus, their usual clientele wasn't dining at their establishments, this is just a small, small example, I'm talking about the shows that used a stable studio lot to film on. I really, really hope that the politicians who are even considering tearing down the convention center to build a parking lot really get what they're possibly doing to the economic future of the businesses that surround it. OK, granted, they build this parking lot for the people who may frequent said businesses, but if the businesses aren't there anymore what's the purpose of the parking lot?

Aloha Everyone!
Last night I saw the SAG article and like the rest of you, I can't see how they would feel justified in creating yet another hardship for the many people who support them heart and soul. My prayers go out to everyone who lost their jobs in these awful times. Nobody is safe from the proverbial pink slip anymore. I hope that the SAG folks truly remember that nobody puts on a prize winning anything without help from others and not everyone has a lot of $$ in the bank.

Where I live in California it's so depressing because you can't take a walk anywhere without seeing 20-30 foreclosure notices waving around. It is such bad karma to take advantage of people's dreams like this.

However, bad times like these tend to bring us all back to what is really important in life. Those who are kind, make every life they touch even brighter. Times like these bring out the very best in all of us because the right thing to do is come together and help each other. Even if you, yourself, receive little or nothing. That SG, JD, and the BN management, took the time and initiative to speak out about rejuvenating the Miami film industry, thus helping the less fortunate - speaks volumes about what they believe in.

There are plenty of beautiful places on Earth, but no place is more beautiful than the place that you call "home." Miami is home for BN and I hope that there is something that can be done to not only keep it that way, but encourage others to make it their home too.

Hang in there everyone, sooner or later there is a light at the end of the tunnel and it isn't from the train.

Aw you guys I'm so sorry things are so crappy in the states right now, I follow the news of course but I dont think I realised until reading this just how dire things are for some of you. Hopefully Obama can help your country out of this clusterf*** the last guy made, try to remain optimistic and if you want to come on the board and vent I'll listen/ read well you know.

In the struggling economy people aren't going to be taking vacations in Florida. You think that it would be a wise investment for Florida to "invest" those tax breaks that are going to pay residents that stimulate their local economies. It would seem like a no brainer. I am sure that Burn Notice brings in alot more revenue than the tax breaks give them. If Burn Notice had a good experience with Florida then it would certainly get around to other producers, directors, etc that Florida was a good choice to do filming for their shows.

That was beautifully said, W2B. There are beautiful places everywhere indeed - California is just lovely - but it isn't Miami. Also, I really do feel a sense of loyalty to the hard-working crew of Burn Notice and am always aware of the fact that there are countless people working behind the scenes to bring this terrific show to life. It would be disheartening to see them left behind should the show need to relocate elsewhere. I too hope that the show can continue to film from Miami for the rest of its tenure.

I think this country is so vast and we come from such different places that we can get caught up in what is happening in our own back yards. But we are all connected to one another in these united states and I just feel so badly for what is going on right now in our neighbor states, especially where things are such a struggle (California, Florida, Nevada, Michigan, and unfortunately the list goes on, sigh). FLRealtor and Brenna - I'm sending positive energy your way...