In other news...Bristol Palin’s Failed Reality Show Received $354,348 In Taxpayer Dollars

[progressoid]

Talk about a welfare Mom.

Production Company of Bristol Palin's TV Show Collected a $350K State Subsidy

December 13, 2012|By Jessica Ridgway | Channel 2 News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Associated Television International, the California company that produced "Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp," collected a $354,348 subsidy from Alaska, according to an article from the Fairbanks Daily-News Miner.

The News-Miner also reports that Bristol Palin and the five other Alaskan residents who acted as the "talent" for the show received almost half a million dollars in wages.

According to a document from the Alaska Film Office, the business Helping Hands LLC paid $475,598 to "above the line" people from Alaska. The News-Miner says that "above the line" is the term used to define key figures in a production, like the stars and the director.

The document also stated that $32,400 were paid to the Alaskan residents who worked behind-the-scenes on production, like the camera and lights operators. However, the News-Miner reports, "There were no Alaskans hired as crew for the show."

http://articles.ktuu.com/2012-12-13/bristol-palin_35804636

Bristol Palin’s Failed Reality Show Received $354,348 In Taxpayer Dollars From Alaska

he continuing move of the entire Palin family into reality television careers is an amusing downfall story, but it took a serious turn today with the news that the state of Alaska had provided $354,348 in subsidies to Bristol Palin’s most recent venture into the genre, her Lifetime show Bristol Palin: Life’s A Tripp, which had such dreadful ratings it was yanked from its slot after two episodes. It’s one thing for the entertainment industry to effectively subsidize the Palins’ careers, given the relatively limited appeal they have in the aftermath of Sarah Palin’s political career. But it’s another for Alaska to spend money to attract a show to the state that probably would have filmed there anyway.

If the purpose of film and television production credits is to keep jobs in-state or to convince companies that otherwise might not have produced shows in a state to consider filming there, it’s not remotely clear why Bristol Palin: Life’s a Tripp would have been a good candidate for those credits. Alaska is Palin’s childhood home. It’s where her parents continue to live, though Todd Palin’s stint in reality television this fall might mean that the family is gravitating more towards Los Angeles. And it’s where Levi Johnston, the father of Bristol’s child, continues to live. If she was retreating from an attempt at a career in California and reestablishing her life near her support system, Alaska was the most logical place for her to do it, even absent a subsidy program. That the show got tax credits from the state suggests more an eagerness to distribute them to whatever project came along than a real effort to attract new and unexpected business to the state.

It’s true that the show generated some revenue for the state, though it’s hard to tell if it was enough to justify spending those subsidies on this particular program, rather than attempting to attract another show to Alaska, or holding off on spending it at all. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, which broke the story of the tax subsidy, notes that the production reported spending $995,275 in Alaska, though not all of that money went to people who live in Alaska, and about $500,000 of that spending went to on-camera talent for the show. The benefits of the program were not exactly broad, or oriented towards creating a lot of new, long-term Alaska jobs.
http://thinkprogress.org/alyssa/2012/12/12/1324411/bristol-palin-tax-credits-alaska/

[mnmoderatedem]

1. that's a bad thing right?

Oh wait, that's only for PBS. Ne'rmind...

[Quantess]

2. Whose genius idea was that?

[Berlum]

3. Republican Socialist Handouts for the Rich

as usual.

[hfojvt]

4. $200,000 in income for 4 months (at most) of "work"

that's a tripp a lot of us would like to take. The trip I am on does not pay nearly so well and I work much harder.

But I wonder who paid the other $600,000.

Also, this article sometimes says "subsidy" and other times says "tax credits". Which is it?

Let's say I own an apartment where an apartment rents for $500 a month. To me, a subsidy would mean that somebody actually pays your rent. A credit, on the other hand, would be some sort of discount where your rent is reduced to $250 a month with a credit of $250. It's a benefit, but the cost structure is different.

In the one case, Alaska would be PAYING the $350,000 in the other case, they would be declining to collect $350,000 in taxes owed.

[kwolf68]

5. It's nice to see

The "pull yourself up by the boostraps" class is out practicing what they preach.