NBC TV has a new hit series.

Audiences everywhere, and especially those living along Wayne County’s Lakeshore Drive, are clamoring for a second season of “Grosse Pointe Garden Society.” The quirky dramedy is all about a garden club in a Detroit suburb, whose members are caught up in murder and mayhem, while struggling to make their conventional lives bloom.

Too bad it’s filmed in Georgia.

“It’s so annoying to us in the industry — to see films about Michigan — being made in another state,” said Peter Klein of Troy, a cinematographer and member of the Michigan Film Industry Association (MiFIA), which is gearing up for another push to get the Multimedia Jobs Act passed into law.

“This is not a handout to Hollywood. This is not a rebate. This is a very different bill,” Klein said, of legislation designed to promote Michigan-produced films, television shows, digital streaming productions, photography and commercials.

Historically, Michigan filmmakers have been contributing to the state’s economy since World War II when short films about America’s war efforts were being made to showcase tanks and aircraft being built in Detroit. Years later television, advertising commercials, corporate videos and commercial photography being done for the automotive industry was shot here.

So, it’s no surprise that Michigan would be the first in the nation to come up with a film incentive in 2008 that expanded work in the industry to include big movie projects such as “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” “Red Dawn,” “Real Steel,’ and “Oz The Great and Powerful” to name a few.

However, while it generated a great deal of work from Hollywood, critics saw it as a loser for the state.

A study in 2010 by the Senate Fiscal Agency found the state’s previous film production incentive lost 89 cents for every dollar that was spent, according to a report by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy (MCPP), whose scholars have shown no love for film incentives.

But instead of tweaking it, it was killed when legislation advanced and was signed by former governor Rick Snyder.

The new incentive, unlike the former version, is not a rebate but a transferable tax credit.

So, the state will not be issuing any refund checks for productions, but rather offsets in-state tax liabilities. Film projects that do not have in-state tax liabilities can transfer their tax credits to a local company by selling it on the open market for a percentage of its value, according to a report by Wrapbook, outlining the different formulas for film production incentives. This new plan which draws the best from some of the most successful film incentive packages in the country found in Georgia and Illinois, also promotes steady and sustainable growth by providing a 10-year period to establish confidence in the program and allow ample time to build an infrastructure and a solid crew base for the industry.

“We learned what not to do,” Klein said of the Michigan Multimedia Jobs Act. “We’ve done a great deal of work to dispel the idea that this is anywhere resembling the former tax incentive.”

Lawmakers concurred.

Last April, the Michigan House Committee on Economic Development and Small Business approved the new production incentive plan, which appeared to have the bipartisan support needed to pass the House. Only it didn’t happen fast enough. Legislators never got the chance to vote on it before November’s elections.

Now, with new legislators in place the MiFIA must find new sponsors and form another committee to resubmit the bills (House bills 4907 and 4908 and Senate bills 438 and 439) to the floor for a vote.

“We all got together and said we’re not giving up this mission,” said Klein.

“A lot of people are not thinking about film workers on a daily basis and don’t understand what an economic income our industry provides to the state’s economy,” added Klein, who believes their quest is not only important to MiFIA members but students graduating from Michigan film schools and thousands of small business owners who prosper from films.

Mom-and-pop shops

As a prop master Andriy Pereklita knows what a production means to small business owners.

In a film anything that you see an actor handle or interact with, from carrots and cigars to radios and ruby red slippers, are objects that are carefully picked out and acquired by a single person — the prop master.

Objects cost money.

Most of these purchases are made on location and it’s these tangibles that critics of the film incentives fail to see that.

“It is a juggernaut,” said Pereklita. “Even the smallest film brings in a lot of money to the area where it’s being produced.”

“Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which was filmed in part in Pontiac during the film incentive, is a good example of the money that comes with a film project of this magnitude.

“We spent $1 million in lumber during the production of that film and that was in a matter of months,” Pereklita said. “You tell me what lumber yard would not want that.”

It’s not just lumber.

It’s everything from locations to logistics, homes, halls and factories rented for a set and even renovated. It’s painters, electricians, hotels, restaurants and dry cleaners or small mom-and-pop shops that might sell the props that Pereklita needs. All of these small businesses and trades people are directly compensated during the production of a movie.

Every film being produced also has a crew that has to eat. That’s where Liz Jackson and the Queen of the Cups Catering and Craft Services comes in.

“My business started about 35 years ago,” said Jackson, who started off working behind the scenes during live musical productions at Detroit venues like the Masonic Temple and Fisher Theatre in Detroit.

Her lifelong experiences as a caterer to the stars alone would make for a great movie.

“When the incentives came along all of the stage hands said, ‘You should do craft services,’” said Jackson, who knew nothing about the service at the time.

But being the ambitious sort, Jackson asked around and soon learned that the craftsmen are the grips, stuntmen, camera operators, riggers, gaffers, and skilled trade workers who bring the director’s vision to life and craft services is the operation that sees to their needs. Once she saw the work that it would provide for her small business, she cooked up a batch of her (almost famous) brownies and walked onto the set of “Gran Torino,” being filmed in Detroit at the time. She was able to get on the set because her husband David Jackson or “Elvis” as he’s known in the business was working as a star driver.

“I walked up to craft services with my plate of brownies and said, ‘What can you teach me,’” she said.

The rest is history.

She and her team were called on regularly to provide craft services for films in production and it wasn’t just her making a decent living.

“I spent a half-a-million on mostly local businesses,” she said, insisting she has the receipts to prove it.

Her purchases included a list of supplies and ingredients, like the chicken and vegetables for the hot soup she made for those cold days when a coat just wasn’t enough to keep warm, or the pudgy donuts that satisfied a sweet tooth at 2 a.m.

“We would pick up 20 to 30 dozen donuts to have on the set,” Jackson said.

During the filming of ‘Sparkle’ starring Whitney Houston the cast and crew got so hooked on the iconic Dutch Girl Donuts created by the little bakery on Woodward Avenue in Detroit if she didn’t supply them every day cast members would ask about it.

“It was a great time to be in business,” said the longtime caterer and craft service provider, whose company grew to include a second truck and four employees.

Jackson admits she loved the work and the role that she has played in helping to ensure that filmmakers have what they need to get through the day — and night.

“Our truck was like a refuge,” said Jackson, who was so good at what she did she could sense it when a director was feeling frustrated. “I could hear it in his voice and know he needs a Faygo Red Pop.”

Therein lies the beauty of the industry.

Production on a film brings work for her and the need for products and services supplied by others like Cappuccino Man, a mobile coffee catering company that she calls when the demand for coffee gets out of hand. Their service also brings a little whimsy to the set as Jackson recalled.

“They make faces in the coffee,” she said, remembering a likeness of Eddie Murphy being passed around on the set of “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F.” “The crew loved it.”

Michigan’s future film industry

“The trickle down effect and the jobs it created for Michiganders was enormous,” said Jackson. “When the tax incentives went away so did the work and the young people. Us old-timers have stayed around but we lost a huge part of our labor force to other states that have incentives.”

“And we want them back,” she added.

Bill Latka concurred.

“Essentially this is a job bill. Without it we are at a disadvantage,” said Latka, a producer who worked in California for 20 years before finally returning to Michigan because of the film incentive.

“When I got here the industry was in full flame,” said Latka, who is among the people in the industry working behind the scenes to get the new plan for Michigan’s film incentive program in place.

It’s not just for himself Latka advocates for but as Jackson said, it’s for Michigan’s youth, including his two sons who have followed in his footsteps, one finding work in Los Angeles, the other hoping the MiFIA can complete their mission so he can remain in the state.

“Students are always asking about the job market here in Michigan,” said Tara Plizga, a producer, writer, director and founder of Brew City Pictures.

Plizga grew up in Sterling Heights and was interested in filmmaking at a young age and, once she earned her bachelor’s degree in communications from Oakland University, her passion led to the New York Film Academy. Had there been a film incentive after graduation she might have returned home but instead headed to California like so many other young people in the industry. However, she too returned to her home state when the incentives came into play and has tried to stick it out ever since.

Though still busy with her own film projects, Plizga has also taken on the role of teacher at the Motion Picture Institute (MPI) in Troy, a film trade school co-founded by independent filmmakers Doug Schulze and Kurt Mayry in 1995.

“This past year at MPI we lost one of our beloved co-founders Kurt Mayry. I have known Kurt for about 17 years and this film school is his legacy, not only that he was literally the man behind the curtain running all the things we had no idea even existed to make the school run seamlessly,” Plizga said. “So we had a somber start to our fall semester but as always came together to work hard to keep his legacy going strong.”

Plizga teaches a film business class.

“I share a lot of my own experiences with them and even bring in others to speak to them so they can see multiple points of view on the subject and make a decision about what works best for them. This is for sure not a one size fits all industry so I try to give them as much information as I can,” Plizga said.

Among the questions she hears from students is whether or not they should move to Los Angeles, Atlanta or one of 38 other states that now have film incentives, to which she has no answer.

“A lot of my friends are here and they’ve been struggling to find long-term work,” said Plizga, who is hoping Michigan will join the other states who are enjoying the benefits of a film production incentive.

As for “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” Plizga understands why it’s shot in Georgia.

“Shows that are set in one place and shot in an entirely different location is not a new thing at all for this industry. There was a time where the majority of television shows were set in one place but shot in Los Angeles. Grabbing a few exterior shots of the actual location then filming most of the show on a stage was and is kind of the norm,” Plizga said. “As now it is just mainly based on the best tax credit.”

Still, she cannot help but love shows that bring attention to any part of Michigan.

“Because as Michiganders we are pretty proud of where we are from and it’s cool to see it highlighted (even if it comes with a little drama) on the screen,” she said.

“It’s going to take our diligence to keep hammering this issue,” Klein said. “But we will keep bringing this before legislators. We are not deterred. We know the process and what we have to do.”