Group says subsidizing movies is a film-flam.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Institute for Justice sues North Carolina Department of Commerce

It's not that Michael Byrne hates movies. But the executive director of the North Carolina chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice says $8 a ticket is enough for anyone to have to pay. In particular, he thinks Tar Heels shouldn't have to fork over tax money to get movies made in the state.

The Raleigh lawyer has sued the N.C. Commerce Department and two top officials on behalf of a local businessman and the Wake County Taxpayers Association. His goal: Get the law that authorized the incentives ruled an unconstitutional transfer of public money to private interests. "The film law is the most egregious on the books in terms of handing money over to private entities without sufficient guarantees that the public benefit," he says.

The N.C. Film Office, a branch of Commerce, has yet to make a payment. Though the law was passed in 2000, no money was appropriated until last year, when $500,000 was set aside. Film Office Director Bill Arnold says administrators are still writing rules for making grants.

Byrne says the law makes scant demands on filmmakers. "It does not require that you hire North Carolina employees, contract with North Carolina businesses or use North Carolina products. It requires only that you spend $1 million." Once that figure is met, a production company could get 15% of its expenses rebated, up to $200,000.

The program is needed, Arnold says, because the state's film industry is suffering. In 1993, filmmakers spent a half-billion dollars here. That had fallen to $250 million in 2001, the fifth straight year of decline. Once the location for shooting such major feature films as...