#not sure if he misspoke or the interviewer just misquoted what he said since james' and robin's characters are most certainly not a couple

[jamesrodayrodriguezpresents]

A new force has arrived on Detroit’s film scene. 

One month after moving to the city, independent California filmmaker Tom E. Brown has hit the ground running excited to boost Detroit’s film community, which has suffered the recent loss of three Indie theaters in Metro Detroit. The freshly appointed Detroit Institute of Arts Detroit Film Theater board member said he has his eye on growing the local film community and pushing for a return of the state’s film tax credit. 

During a free Sunday screening of his 2016 film “Pushing Dead” at the Senate Theater and Q&A for World AIDS Day, he announced plans to film a sequel in Detroit.

“I’m going to try to see if I can do anything to help bring the film incentives back, because that would be nice for Detroit,” added Brown, who bought a house in East English Village. 

The bipartisan Multimedia Jobs Act would create a transferable tax credit of up to 30% for Michigan-based multimedia projects. The bill was co-sponsored in 2023 by John Roth, R-Interlochen, and Jason Hoskins, D-Southfield. Currently, more than 35 states have a multimedia or film incentive. For seven years Michigan had a film credit offering up to 42% rebate of filmmakers’ in-state production costs, but it ended in 2015 amid criticism that taxpayers weren’t benefitting.  

Roth’s office did not immediately return a request for comment on the bill. 

Opponents of the package, from teacher unions to Republican lawmakers, say the state can’t afford film subsidies amid large public infrastructure needs. In November, the Great Lakes Gun Rights nonprofit told Republican lawmakers in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that the package was “anti-gun” by giving tax dollars “to liberal anti-gun Hollywood elites to produce liberal anti-gun programs in Michigan.” The tax program would entail $2 billion in credits over 10 years. 

Others, like the Michigan Film Industry Association, have argued that the money would be well spent by boosting the local economy and tourism by $6-$8 billion in direct spending in the first 10 years, and creating new jobs, while decreasing the population loss of college graduates.

The bills were tentatively scheduled for a vote in the state House last month, but no action was taken amid attendance issues and lingering concerns over the proposal. Time is running short to get the bills passed this session, as lawmakers will break for the year in late December.

Brown’s “Pushing Dead” is a comedy that focuses on an HIV-positive writer who is suddenly dropped from his health plan for earning too much after depositing a $100 check in his bank account. The film stars James Roday, Danny Glover and Robin Weigert.

Brown, 57, has made short films for nearly four decades that have been featured at the  American Museum of Natural History, the Walker Art Center and the Guggenheim. “Pushing Dead,” supported by the Sundance Institute and Rockefeller Foundation, screened at more than 50 film festivals winning 10 best-feature and audience and jury awards. 

The “Pushing Dead” sequel, which Brown said is 25% written, is one of several films he hopes to shoot in Detroit. The movie will open with a couple pushed out of San Francisco who land in Detroit, and features a scene in the city. Brown said he has already received verbal promises of financial support from locals, which is “rare” for an Indie film. 

In San Francisco, films are ranked by factors like local jobs and diversity and entered into a lottery for tax incentives. Depending on whether Brown wins San Francisco’s film lottery and how Michigan’s legislation advances, Brown said he would also like to film the movie “American Dog,” in Detroit. That film, he said, is about “an unhinged lesbian cop in backwater America” who will be played by Margaret Cho. 

If the Multimedia Jobs Act were passed Brown said it would make filming American Dog in Detroit “more appealing” because it’s increasingly challenging to raise funds for film. But regardless, Brown said he’ll film in Detroit, and is passionate about doing so. 

“It’s a lot of things that come into play when you’re trying to raise money for a movie, but I will absolutely make movies in Michigan,” he said. “I like the idea of setting this little indie with the same characters, with the two main characters from ‘Pushing Dead’ in Detroit, just because it’s such a beautiful city. Everywhere you look it’s just filmic and gorgeous.” 

Last year, the city’s Detroit Film Office authorized 83 productions to film, according to a BridgeDetroit FOIA. 

The subject matter of Brown’s film is particularly relevant to Detroit, where HIV rates are four times higher than the rest of Michigan.  

On Sunday, a post-screening panel featuring Brown, Weigert and LGBT Detroit Executive Director Nzere Kwabena focused on the film production process and AIDS. 

In Detroit, approximately 766 people per 100,000 residents have HIV, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services 2023 HIV Prevalence Report. 

Brown, who was diagnosed with HIV 40 years ago and initially given three years to live, said World AIDS Day is a happy day for him now because it means he’s alive. World AIDS Day, on Dec. 1, was first recognized in 1988. 

“Pushing Dead” is available for free streaming with a public library card on Kanopy or on various paid streaming services. The timeline for the sequel is unknown, but expected after Brown  wraps production on “American Dog.”

(via DannyG)