Philly Loses On Brad Pitt Zombie Epic

PHILADELPHIA - Brad Pitt is filming a $120 million movie about zombies invading Philadelphia, but one thing is missing: any location shooting in our area.

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Instead, “World War Z” will use Glasgow, Scotland as a fill-in for Philadelphia. On Monday, crews started changing store fronts and other landmarks in Glasgow to make it look like Philadelphia.

The is the second high-profile location snub for Philadelphia, after ABC decided to shoot “Body Of Proof,” its Philadelphia-located drama, in Providence.

British newspapers say Pitt will show up for filming in August for two weeks of action shots. The work will add $US 2.5 million to the local economy in Glasgow, in the most lucrative film deal in that nation’s history.

So why can’t a movie about zombies invading Philadelphia be shot on the Schuylkill River, and not on the River Clyde? Would it not be natural to film zombies walking up the Art Museum steps, or at least invading Independence Hall?

The state of Pennsylvania has a lucrative tax incentive deal for film and TV show makers to do location shooting here. In fact, $75 million in taxpayer-funded incentives are waiting for zombies, Transformers and other movie characters.

But in recent months, Pittsburgh has become the movie capital of Pennsylvania, and not Philadelphia.

“The Dark Knight Rises” and two other major films will be shot in Pittsburgh. Right now, Philadelphia has one independent film and a few TV shows in the works, according to the city’s Film Office Web site .

Still, Philadelphia has a strong resume for movie makers looking to make a big-budget feature, after hosting “Transformers” and a slew of high-profile actors.

One rumored reason for Philadelphia losing "World War Z" surfaced in February, when one industry blog said producers were concerned about the future of Pennsylvania's tax subsidy for filmmakers.

The tax credit was in limbo as the press speculated that new Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett would cut the entire tax credit from his budget.

Corbett surprised a lot of people by keeping the tax credit in his March 9th budget address, and adding another $15 million annually to restore its funding to pre-2009 levels. He cited its impact on jobs within the Commonwealth.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Michael Klein also reported in March that Philadelphia was being considered to host filming of "World War Z."

One big advantage for Pitt is that Glasgow also offered some financial incentives and indoor shooting will be in London.

But from what little information exists about Glasgow's film office, it would appear to be much smaller than Philadelphia's effort to recruit film makers here. (Glasgow does have Gerard Butler as its official ambassador.)

But "Transformers" was shot in multiple locations aside from Philadelphia.

And Philadelphia has strong infrastructure of production facilities, a deep pool of extras and a strategic location close to New York City.