Dayton area film professionals are seeing plenty of “action” despite a motion picture industry downturn that in recent years has seen independent film studios close, DVD revenues dry up and Hollywood ticket sales drop as much as 20 percent.

Nearly 20 motion pictures have been approved to shoot in Ohio using the state film tax credit enacted in 2009, creating jobs for Ohio production crew members, said Kristen Erwin, executive director of the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Film Commission.

“We’ve never had greater traffic of motion pictures, as well as television and commercial production,” Erwin said.

More than a dozen Dayton-area residents make their living as film professionals, said Eva Buttacavoli, director of FilmDayton, a nonprofit organization dedicated to building the region’s film community.

The group’s third annual FilmDayton Festival, featuring films with Miami Valley ties, continues today at The Neon movie theater in downtown Dayton.

Wright State University’s motion pictures program averages 50 to 60 students, said W. Stuart McDowell, chairman of the school’s Department of Theater Arts, Dance and Motion Pictures.

“Not too many of them are out flinging burgers in their mid-30s to support their film habit,” McDowell said. “They are able to tack on to some film project somewhere and do what they want to do.”

Wright State crew

More than half of Wright State’s film graduates pursue work in the independent sector, McDowell said.

About 10 people with ties to Wright State or Dayton are working as department heads on the feature film “The Philly Kid,” which started shooting this month in Baton Rouge, La.

“The Wright State kids, many of them live in Louisiana, which has the most stable tax incentive in the country right now,” said Karri O’Reilly, the Dayton-based line producer of “The Philly Kid” and a Wright State graduate.

Louisiana has generated nearly $3 billion since the state implemented its film tax incentive program in 2002, according to the Louisiana Office of Entertainment Industry Development.

State tax incentives, combined with the weak U.S. dollar, are the driving force behind domestic film production, O’Reilly said.

“For Ohio filmmakers it’s actually one of the best times we’ve had because we finally, after lagging greatly behind the rest of the country, have a film incentive that seems to be starting to catch some traction,” O’Reilly said.

Film tax credit

The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Incentive, totaling $30 million for fiscal years 2010 and 2011, provides a refundable tax credit up to 35 percent for productions that spend a minimum of $300,000 in the state.

In the last two years, production companies have spent more than $117 million making movies, television programs and commercials here, according to the Ohio Film Office. The tax credit has helped employ more than 9,200 Ohioans, resulting in crew wages of $30.7 million, said Ohio Department of Development spokeswoman Katie Sabatino.

“The Avengers,” a big-budget superhero film starring Robert Downey Jr., is projected to employ 4,425 Ohioans as part of its production crew and cast when it shoots this summer in Cleveland and Cincinnati.

An untitled movie starring Nickelodeon’s Victoria Justice will shoot this summer in Cleveland and is projected to employ about 545 Ohioans.

“The Ides of March,” the George Clooney film shot this spring in Cincinnati and Oxford, employed 409 Ohioans, including eight from Dayton.

A portion of “Unstoppable,” an action thriller starring Denzel Washington, was filmed in late 2009 in southeast Ohio and employed an Ohio cast and crew of 1,361.

Buttacavoli said the movie business is down as a whole, “but because Ohio is the hot, new really tax incentive-generous state in the film industry, we’ve come out better than even.”

Industry woes

Nationally, the independent film business is suffering from a “huge downturn,” said Michael Katchman, president of Rivercoast Media, a Cincinnati-based independent DVD distributor.

“We had quite a run, there’s no doubt about it, in the ’90s and even up until probably 2006 or 2007,” said Katchman, a Centerville native who has worked in sales, marketing and acquisition roles for Orion, MGM, Lionsgate and First Look studios.

Too many films flooded the market, forcing an industry contraction that saw the closing of such specialty film divisions as Fox Atomic and Warner Independent Pictures, as well as a consolidation of domestic indie film distribution.

Hollywood’s woes have continued. Movie attendance this spring was down 20 percent from the same period in 2010, representing the worst downturn in ticket sales in six years.

The Neon, a Dayton theater that specializes in independent and foreign films, reported record revenues in 2010. Manager Jonathan McNeal credited the success of such films as “Black Swan,” and “The King’s Speech,” as well as sales of beer and wine, for the Neon’s best year ever.

McNeal said Dayton’s independent film audience probably can’t support more than the Neon’s two screens. “We do well, but are certainly by no means close to capacity,” he said.

DVD sales drop

Declining DVD sales have left independent film distributors scrambling to find new revenue streams.

“The DVD market would always make up the difference for the bad theatrical run,” Katchman said. “That’s not there anymore.”

Home entertainment rental chains such as Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video have shut down. Blockbuster Video was sold at auction last month after filing for bankruptcy.

Major retailers such as Best Buy and Target have “drastically” reduced their number of DVD titles, Katchman said.

Katchman said the Internet, video games and other digital media now compete for people’s time and entertainment dollars. The economy also has played a role.

As a result, it’s becoming tougher to get an independent film made and distributed. “If you want to get something made you have to do it for half as much money as you used to be able to, because they just aren’t turning the profit,” O’Reilly said.

New technology

The good news for aspiring filmmakers is that new technology is making it cheaper to make movies. It also is changing the way low-budget films reach audiences.

“You can shoot an amazingly good looking project now on a camera that costs $10,000 to buy,” O’Reilly said. “You can do all of your post-production on the same computer you surf the Internet with, and be very competitive in terms of production quality if you know what you are doing with it,” she said.

New delivery models such as video on demand, streaming movies online and digital downloads present filmmakers with new ways reach audiences.

“It’s harder to get a theatrical release, but there are 12 different ways of getting a movie out,” O’Reilly said. “It’s just a matter of how do you make a profit off of it.”

The Cincinnati Film Commission’s Erwin said new, cheaper film technologies are allowing people to make more movies and get more experience sooner.

Liz Cambron of Dayton will graduate in June from Wright State’s motion pictures program.

“I feel good,” Cambron said, regarding her job prospects. “As far as being able to find work somewhere in the United States with this education, I think it’s going to be fine.”