In 2010 The Board of County Commissioners approved an economic incentive program to lure a production company to Sarasota County. Code name: “Project Waterboy” .
9/20/2010 “Sanborn Studios setting up shop in Lakewood Ranch”
Before a room full of reporters, elected officials and film professionals, Ken Sanborn took the podium, dimmed the lights and played a video presentation that said it all: “The anticipation is over … a slice of Hollywood in Sarasota … Sanborn Studios.”
One year later Sanborn Studios is closing its Lakewood Ranch facility to “achieve greater efficiencies in its operations”. The company is relocating its studio operations to a new facility which will be closer to its facilities at the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport.
Does it alarm anyone else that a bunch of money was given to Sanborn Studios and there was no due diligence on the part of the county when Jeff Maultsby pitched the project? Rather than pause, our commission seemed star-struck at the mention of Hollywood and the magic word… JOBS!
Sanborn of course has done very little in the way of jobs or major production activity.
7/13/2011 “Sanborn Studios works on Plan B”
When Sanborn Studios recently laid off four employees, pushed the start date of its key project, “Miami 24/7,” from June to November and repackaged the television series as a feature film, tongues began to wag.
Did this mean the studio, which opened in November with the help of a $650,000 grant from the Sarasota County Economic Development fund, was in financial trouble? Was the reworking of “Miami 24/7″ a ploy to grab more of the state’s film incentive dollars? And weren’t they supposed to be creating jobs, not deleting them?
2/28/2011 “Sarasota County re-evaluates Sanborn”
“As you know, there is an inherit amount of risk in the provision of monies out of the economic incentive fund, as no grant can guarantee success in any endeavor,” Seward wrote. “In that regard, however, we construct our contracts with incentive grantees based on performance with claw back provisions for the return of the grant funding if the business does not live up to its contractual obligation.
What is your opinion? Are economic incentives for businesses worth the possible risks?
9/16/2010 “Incentives aim to draw more film crews to area”
With a TV production studio slated for Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota County established an incentive program Wednesday specifically geared toward bringing more film and TV-related projects to the area.
Sarasota County commissioners voted to allocate $250,000 from their Economic Development Incentive Program to create a Film Industry Incentive Program. The move comes as county officials prepare to unveil which TV production company has been approved to receive $650,000 in economic development incentive.
7/13/2010 “500 jobs are at stake” More than 500 jobs would be created if county government inks deals with five companies it is negotiating with and forks over more than $600,000 in incentive payments to the firms.
