Below-the-line workers push probe into subsidies: behind-the-scenes move made by local groups.

Below-the-line entertainment workers continue their effort to get a federal investigation into the legality of subsidies offered by Canada that lure away domestic television and film production.

While the Film and Television Action Committee has not been high profile about the petition they plan to file with the U.S. Trade Representative, the group has been busy behind the scenes drumming up support.

Backing the committee in its effort is the national Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild, the city councils of Burbank and West Hollywood, and various unions representing so-called below-the-line workers who are the technicians and artists that don't get top billing in productions..

"We're trying to get our fundraising program up and going with a target to file in the early summer," said committee member Tim McHugh. "That is our goal. But getting money from people out of work isn't easy."

The Studio City-based FFAC seeks to have the U.S. Trade Representative investigate whether subsidies offered by Canada is in violation of World Trade Organization agreements signed by the United States and 42 other nations.

In the past, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Encino-based trade organization representing the seven major film studios and distributors, has come out in opposition to the petition, claiming that an investigation won't keep jobs in the state and fear that foreign countries will close their markets to American films.

Attempts to reach a representative of the association were not successful.

As the committee readies to file its petition, it also waits on other ammunition it can use to bolster its cause of keeping jobs in Southern California.

In April, the Center for Entertainment Industry Data and Research, based in Encino, will release its first new report on runaway production in five years. The report will include information on film, scripted and reality television program and movie of the week production, said center Executive Director Stephen Katz.

"It will show what's going where," McHugh said. "It will be interesting to see, and my guess is the projects are following the money."

The center's 2001 study concluded the U.S. economy had lost 25,000 jobs and an estimated $4.1 billion in economic benefits since Canada introduced its subsidies in 1998.

But more recent studies also show that production continues to go out of state as well as to other countries.

FilmLA Executive Director Steve McDonald said the greatest threat to the state's filming industry comes not from Canada but from other states, of which 20 now offer some type of incentive program with more being considered.

"Generally people want to stay in the U.S. if they can," McDonald said. "If they are getting a tax incentive, all the better."

The state's response to the actions taken by other states was Assembly Bill 777, which would provide tax credits for motion picture productions. No action has been taken on the bill.

A study in August 2005 done by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation for the California Film Commission detailed the economic loss to the state from runaway production.

The study showed that the state stands to lose between $215,000 in taxes on a low-budget film to $10.5 million in taxes on a big-budget film made outside of California. Losing a movie-of-the-week costs the state $640,000 in taxes, while 12 episodes of a one-hour drama generate $3.1 million in state taxes, according to the study.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is supporting the Assembly bill and is backing incentives the city can make to keep film and television production within its borders, such as eliminating fees for filming at city-owned properties.

The city and state is learning from the aggressive steps taken by other states, Villaraigosa said Feb. 22 at a launch party for FilmLA, the agency formerly known as the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. that promotes filming and works to expedite the permitting process.