Ann Arbor area businesses get a boost from filmmakers

Six months into the existence of Michigan’s movie incentive package and the dollars are starting to trickle down to businesses in the Ann Arbor area. Excerpt: If Downtown Home & Garden and Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea are any indication, Michigan’s generous new film incentive could mean substantial – albeit sporadic – boosts in business for some Ann Arbor area companies. While the movie “Youth in Revolt” was filming in downtown Ann Arbor last summer, the crew spent about $3,000 on French bistro-style furniture, a few dozen sun hats and other items from Downtown Home on South Ashley Street. Sweetwaters sold them rounds of coffee and tea drinks, in addition to pastries, muffins and other quick food items. In addition, more than 100 crew members were given $20 a day to spend on lunch in downtown Ann Arbor, pumping an estimated $8,000 into the cash registers of such places as Cafe Zola and the Fleetwood Diner, according to the Ann Arbor Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Those are the direct things,” Downtown Home owner Mark Hodesh said about purchases the movie crew made from his store. “There were also people standing around watching, so we had lots of new people in our parking lot. … Everyone found time to pause in their travels and watch it, marvel at it. It was good for downtown.” Read the rest of the story here and how local film students are staying and cashing in on it, too, here.