IL SR0587

Urges the Department of Commerce and Economic Development to award an Illinois Film Production Services Tax Credit to Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks for the production of "Chiraq," directed by Spike Lee.

The film will be set in the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, where unemployment stands at 21.3%, and is expected to employ nearly 3,000 extras, 100 crew members, and 20 interns, primarily from Englewood and surrounding neighborhoods.

Film locations will utilize 90% of properties from local homeowners, businesses, churches, and schools, and service contracts will benefit local vendors in the high-poverty area.

Illinois law requires film tax credit applicants to file diversity plans with specific hiring goals for minorities and women and contracting goals with disadvantaged business enterprises, which Forty Acres and a Mule Filmworks must meet.

Resolution emphasizes the production's potential to provide positive economic impact on the State and address violent crime in disadvantaged, high-unemployment communities through artistic depiction.