‘Father of the Bride’ could have been filmed entirely in Miami. Too bad it had a stand-in
If you’ve seen HBO Max’s latest hit, “Father of the Bride,” then you know that Miami has a significant role in this romantic comedy. A significant role but, unfortunately, not starring role.
Few movies, at least not in a long time, have captured and delivered to the world such a love letter to our beautiful city as “Father of the Bride”: The drone shots of sparkling Biscayne Bay, street scenes in bustling Little Havana, the grandeur of the Biltmore hotel in Coral Gables.
Our daily eye candy breathtakingly captured.
But there is some irony here. “Father of the Bride” was large- ly filmed in Georgia, which is now the Hollywood filming capital of the country.
There were some outside scenes shot in Miami-Dade to feed the illusion the movie was made here. And they were convincing.
Marco Giron, film and entertainment commissioner for the
Miami-Dade Office of Film and Entertainment, told the Editorial Board that some of what became key scenes in the movie were shot here, in a mansion on Palm Island, along the Venetian and Rickenbacker causeway and the William Powell turn-around in Little Havana, Calle Ocho and the Biltmore.
“‘The “Father of the Bride’ ” project had a local spend of about $2.5 million.,” Giron said.
But it could have been so much more. For one, the credits could have read: “Filmed in Miami,” not “Filmed in Georgia.” “It would have been a badge of honor for local residents and thrown tons of free publicity for our tourism indust- ry — to say nothing of the revenue put in the pockets of local businesses. According to Florida Politics, the program led to more than 200,000-plus hotel-room nights and over 100,000 jobs on projects for Floridians. The Monroe County Tourism Devel- opment Council reported that after Season 1 of “Bloodline” was filmed in the Florida Keys, more than $65.5 million in incremental tourism spending was attributed to visitors lured to the chain of islands by the Netflix series. A Visit Florida survey found that almost 25% of domestic tourists to Florida said something they saw on film or television contributed to their decision to visit our state.
SHOWN THE DOOR
But Tallahassee long ago rolled up the red carpet and gave Hollywood filmmakers the bum’s rush.
It didn’t used to be that way. Years ago, launched by flashy, neon-lighted “Miami Vice,” South Florida was home to scores of movies. In 2010, Flor- ida allotted $300 million for filmmakers and television productions on a first-come, firstserve basis. It helped make Flor- ida the No. 3 state in the country for film production.
But Tallahassee leaders did not see a need to replenish it and by 2016, no financial benefits to film in Florida are offered.
Since then, Georgia has way surpassed Florida, largely because of Tyler Perry’s megastudio-production complex in that state.
In Georgia, visiting film productions can receive a 20% base tax credit. They may also qualify to earn a 10% Georgia Entertainment Promotion (GEP) uplift by embedding a Georgia logo on
approved projects, Marie Gordon, director of communications for the Georgia film industry, told the Editorial Board via email.
ANOTHER TRY
Some Florida lawmakers want to try to lure Hollywood back. Good luck.
During the last legislative session and last year’s, too, state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, proposed a tax-credit incentive program to lure major film productions back to Florida.
A Senate staff analysis of the proposal said entertainment incentives by states have waned in popularity, with 31 states in 2018 offering some form of incentives, down from 44 in 2009. But our neighbor Georgia has leaned in.
Meanwhile, Florida has done little to fight for entertainment productions since the legislative incentives were allowed to sunset in 2016..
Gruters’ bill would have created the “Targeted High Wage Production Program,” giving credits to filmmakers that meet specific requirements.
Back in January, Gruters said his proposal’s goal was to “broaden the entertainment industry’s impact, enhance tourism and encourage more family-friendly productions” in Florida, according to a Senate staff analysis of the proposal.
The bill stalled after the conservative group Americans for Prosperity Florida questioned the state. Well, a 2019 report from Tallahassee-based Florida TaxWatch estimated that, without a program, the state in the prior four years had lost more than 60 major film and television projects.
Currently, there are only local-level incentive programs through city and county film offices.
The state as a whole does little to attract Hollywood movies like “Father of the Bride.” What a shame.
Filmmakers manage to make us believe movies, such as “Father of the Bride,” are filmed in Miami with some key scenes..
For now, bravo to the magic of Hollywood.