When recently questioned about why he chose to film Up in the Air in St. Louis, Jason Reitman curiously didn’t say that it was because of the $4.5 million in tax credits that he received from the state of Missouri. Instead, he said that it was because of the sheer amount of vacant office space (emphasis added):

In location scouting in St. Louis and Detroit, I walked into empty building after empty building. I realized that I was surrounded by the realities of this recession.

I find this to be poignant, but for a reason different than Reitman probably intended.

Perhaps businesses could afford to staff those office buildings if Missouri weren’t redistributing their money to filmmakers and property developers via tax subsidies.

But then, Reitman would have to find other things to exploit explore than “real people who really lost their jobs.”

Hat tip to David Stokes!