Let's put Canada in Chapter 11!

Some days are good. Some are disasters from the moment your feet meet the floor. But once in a while the dawn heralds a day which brings news that just makes you want to stand on a roof-top and sing.

This article from the New York Times relates the joyous news that, while all its previous seasons were shot in LA, the new season of Ugly Betty was actually filmed in New York City.

As a result of New York Governor David Patterson's plan to give Film and TV productions a 30% tax break if they shoot in the State, Betty and another eighteen prime-time shows are now filming there, pouring over $500-million of new revenue into the State in the first five months alone.

And if this was Las Vegas, you could bet that whole bundle would have vanished to Canada without these new rules.

The radiant Metropolis is now on course to enjoy almost $2-billion of entirely home-grown revenue in just the first year of the plan. Dozens of firms, from hotels to cab companies will reach the financial stability they've been chasing for years and hundreds of Actors will get jobs, incomes and a chance for advancement they'd have otherwise lost to their Canadian brethren - All because of Governor Patterson's inspired idea.

And if that doesn't leave you debating an indulgence in roof-top recital, you're probably made out of stone.

The Governor and his team should take a well-deserved bow. And every one of his peers in D.C. should take notes.


Times Square photo by Ken Thomas

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