S.C. Senate hearings held from the summer through the fall might lead to more changes for the state’s film industry — changes that could give filmmakers a home they can be so proud of that they will pump millions of dollars into the state.

During this past legislative session, which ended in June, some legislators became frustrated by what they saw as unfair and overly pre-emptive cuts to film industry incentive packages by Gov. Mark Sanford and his allies in the state Commerce Department.

As a result, House brass began what became a successful fight to move the state’s film office out of Commerce and into the state Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism (PRT).

The hope, according to House Speaker Bobby Harrell’s office, was to make sure the incentive packages passed by the General Assembly were passed down intact to filmmakers.

The incentives? Basically they include a 20 percent cash rebate given to productions that pay at least $1 million in wages to South Carolina workers, and a 30 percent rebate on goods and services bought from suppliers across the state.

Productions also get an additional 20 percent rebate on actors’ salaries, regardless if they are local or from out of state, as long as each actor’s fee is less than $1 million.

But the incentives haven’t worked out exactly that way. A policy decision this year at the Commerce Department, reinterpreting the intent of the Legislature’s incentives, whittled down those amounts, according to Harrell’s office.

Sanford appointee and Commerce director Joe Taylor argued earlier this year that the state wasn’t getting even 20 percent in return for its investment. Others, like state Treasurer Converse Chellis, argued that the state was getting $10 for every $1 it spent.

Jeff Monks, director of the S.C. Film Office, says the incentives will remain at the level Commerce set them at last year until a series of public hearings held by a Senate panel chaired by Sen. Yancey McGill, D-Williamsburg, is completed in early November.

Apparently, the current incentives have been enough for the producers of Army Wives to schedule shooting a third season on the former naval base in North Charleston. They were also a help in getting a second Nicholas Sparks film, Dear John, to shoot in South Carolina this fall; the previous one was The Notebook.

Monks says his office “outsold” North Carolina, where there are similar incentives and far more facilities, especially in the Wilmington area.

It looks like Monks hasn’t been the only state official practicing his sales pitch. Scott Malyerck, spokesman for Chellis and formerly director of the South Carolina Republican Party, makes a case for the S.C. Film Commission potentially being moved to the treasurer’s office.

Malyerck argued that the incentives are “all about money,” and money is what the treasurer’s office does best, pointing to billions of dollars the office invests and manages for the state and some of its retirees.

“We haven’t approached anyone in the Legislature to sponsor a bill,” Malyerck said. But he added that Chellis, whose office the governor is rumored to be eyeing in the next state election, “would love to help.”

“We absolutely want to see it work in South Carolina; if it’s at the PRT, fine. We’d love to lend our financial acumen and make sure none of the general fund money gets wasted.”

Crystal ball: Imagine a world where a high pay, low environmental impact industry is allowed to flourish, where multimillion-dollar homes are snatched up by megastars moving to South Carolina to take advantage of the beautiful clime and a burgeoning production schedules. In this world, the General Assembly would have to preserve incentives and create a stable environment for the film industry to grow over the long term. But if the state’s attention to the industry is on again, off again, Hollywood will fly in, take the money, film and run. Or for that matter, Hollywood might just stay away altogether by deciding to honor an economic boycott of South Carolina that the NAACP is pushing because the Confederate flag continues to fly on the grounds of the State House.