After years of compiling data, raising money and lining up supporters, the Film and Television Action Committee filed a petition to have the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative investigate the legality of tax breaks used to lure film and television production across the border to Canada. The petition submitted in early September seeks for removal of the subsidies offered by the Canadian federal government and provincial governments. The federal and provincial Production Service Tax Credits led to the loss of $3.7 billion in direct investment in film and television productions between 1998 and 2006, according to the petition. Additionally, production leaving the country cost the U.S. economy $9.35 billion and about 138,600 direct and indirect job opportunities during that same time period. Films currently being made in Canada slated for 2008 release include “An American Girl Mystery,” with Joan Cusack and Abigail Breslin; “The Heaven Project;” and “Tortured,” with Laurence Fishburne. “This is the last, best hope for the Southern California film industry,” said Tim McHugh, a special effects artist from Burbank and president of the committee. The 114-page petition, backed by more than 3,000 pages of documentation, reawakens the entertainment industry’s focus on Canada as a primary culprit of taking away film and television production from California. That focus had quieted down, as the weakening of the dollar across the border coincided with other states offering incentives to production companies and studios. To those concerned with runaway production and the effects on the local economy, Canada has not been off the radar screen. “Canada may not be the focus this instant but it has not gone away, and the incentives are unfair,” said Steve Dayan, the business manager with Teamsters Local #399 based in the Valley. The petition was filed on behalf of FTAC, eight union locals representing industry workers and numerous private businesses supporting the entertainment industry. The cities of Glendale and Burbank were among the municipalities throwing their support behind the petition. The FTAC petition is simply one front in the battle to keep filming and associated jobs in California, with the other taking place in Sacramento, where state lawmakers have been unable to pass an incentive package of their own to compete against those offered by other states. A bill passed by the Assembly and pending in the state Senate would create a grant program administered by the California Film Commission to keep production in the state. California lags behind other states with incentives because there is an impression among lawmakers that financial assistance subsidizes the large studios and big producers, said Assemblyman Paul Krekorian, chairman of the Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry. “It doesn’t benefit the Spielbergs or the Cruises. It benefits the people who strap on a tool belt,” said Krekorian, whose district includes areas of the east Valley. More than 20 states offer financial incentives for filming of television shows and feature movies. A big concern is the creation of a permanent infrastructure of facilities and trained crews in these other states that compete against those in Southern California. A growing production base with nearly 10 soundstages in Albuquerque earned it the nickname “Tamalewood” by a local newspaper. With 300 Teamster drivers and 1,000 members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, the city has enough crew to work on five productions at the same time. If the attention shifted away from Canada to other states, that was because it is easier to get, and to compare, data on states’ successes in luring productions, said Amy Lemisch, director of the state’s film commission. “For legislators, it is helpful to show what other states are doing and not other countries,” Lemisch said.