At issue is a soon-to-shoot film called "The Poker Brat," a $10 million production chronicling the life of Madison native and 10-time World Poker Champion Phil Helmuth, Jr. Hayden Christensen, best known for portraying a young Darth Vader in the latter "Star Wars" prequels, is set to star.
Producers want to shoot the film, slated for production this summer, in Madison, but with no tax incentives in place, the film will shoot in Winnipeg, Canada, Fantle said.
Fantle, acting as a liaison between the state and production crews, said he has made every effort to delay an upcoming scouting trip by the producers, but "the clock is ticking."
"I have been ... holding off every day that I can," he said, "because we know without the incentives, why should they even bother coming? The Winnipeg package, without our incentives, pretty much blows us out of the water."
Lawton agreed, and said it should be a matter of "state pride" that legislators would do anything in their power to prevent a Wisconsin-based movie from being shot in another state, or in this case, country.
"We don’t want Wisconsin’s entry into this area to be a litany of lost opportunities," she said.
Strachota pointed to other states’ success stories as the basis for her support in advancing the start date.
