Kevin Costner joins the history of moviemaking in S.C.
By John Temple Ligon Temple@TheColumbiaStar.com

Mel Gibson stars in The Patriot (2000) filmed on Dickie Harper's cattle farm in York, where his daughter Lee also assisted in costume designs. The museum's exhibition includes gallows on which characters in The Patriot were hanged.

For the decade between 1997 and last year, South Carolina was home to 32 feature films, 10 made- for- TV movies, and a television series. The latest, a Kevin Costner film titled The New Daughter, is expected to begin filming in the Lowcountry by February 18. The movie's producer said production should take about two months.

In the budget category reported between $10 million and $50 million, The New Daughter is rumored to locate filming in McClellanville even though the movie's story is set in the American Midwest. South Carolina's variety of landscapes from the mountains to the sea is one of the state's major selling points in attracting film productions.

Another major selling point is the state's incentive package. Through last July, the state paid a production company a wage rebate of 20 percent as long as the total individual wage never exceeded $1 million, and the state paid a 30 percent rebate on purchases.

Artifacts from The Big Chill (1983) are on display at The State Museum through next fall.

With the rush of film business, six feature films and the Army Wives television series, all within one year, South Carolina was growing a film industry as of last year. The problem was the out- of- state wage earners, and another objection was heard about the out- of- state purchases, so adjustments were made.

The adjustments amounted to reductions in subsidies. The wage rebate for someone from out of state was reduced to 10 percent up to a maximum of $3,500, and the subsidies for out- of- state purchases were eliminated. The reductions were put into force last July, and, consequently, until last month no new feature film was announced for production in South Carolina.

Costner's New Daughter is the first feature film announced for production in South Carolina since last July's incentives adjustments. The South Carolina Film Commission had to restore its out- of- state wage and purchase incentives policy for television productions, just to keep Army Wives in production in Charleston. So the South Carolina subsidies policy through last July is still in effect for any television series, while the incentives reductions still apply to movie productions.

Robert Duvall, Randy Quaid, and Tom Cruise star in Days of Thunder. (1990) On display in The State Museum are Cruise's jumpsuit and denim jacket and Duvall's suit, all costumes in the film.

Hustling movie productions is competitive, particularly when competing with Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Louisiana, and New Mexico, all of which have sweetened financial incentives in recent months in direct response to South Carolina's success through last July.

Most economics observers should say the hustling is worth it. The first season of Army Wives, the first half of 2007, was good for a total payroll of $10,666,970, about one- third of which was to in- state people. The total purchases came to $6,690,803, two- thirds of which was local.

Actor Kevin Bacon stands in with his guitar in his Vista off- hours during the filming of Death Sentence, which spent a total of $14 million in payroll and purchases in the fall of 2006.

The Hollywood writers' strike is preventing production of Army Wives in Charleston. Once the strike is

resolvTehde, pNreowdu Dctaiuognh rteesrumes, as do wages and expenses. , however, is about to begin production with a script bought and paid for long before the writers' strike. Costner and Co. are free to proceed.

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in the Palmetto State, which opened January 12 and runs through October 19. The exhibition traces the history of films large and small made in South Carolina over the entirety of the 20th century, and it includes early documentaries and educational films besides the major motion pictures such as The Big Chill and The Patriot.

Having put 100 years of movie making on exhibition at The State Museum, South Carolina is at a turning point to determine the next 100 years of movie making.