When Alan Roberts contemplated filming "Deadly Closure" in late 2008, he was among the first to apply to the Independent Film Queue. A cash incentive program designed to encourage independent movie-making in Florida, the Film Queue offered 15 to 17 percent reimbursements for Florida-based expenditures on films costing between $100,000 and $625,000.

The problem: "It was so popular they ran out of money instantaneously," said Sarasota County film commissioner Jeanne Corcoran. "The $10.8 million they set aside for it was gone in three hours."

This time around, the Florida Legislature is trying to bait the hook with tax credits. At last glance, lawmakers were debating $55 million in credits for year one of a five-year commitment, and allotting no less than $27 million annually on the back end.

Should it pass, Florida will discover if those coffers are deep enough to compete with states like Michigan and Louisiana, which offer tax rebates of 40 and 30 percent, respectively, to qualified moviemakers.

Some of the ones who got away would like another shot at Sarasota's turquoise waters and artsy Spanish Mediterranean aesthetic.

In 2007, St. Petersburg native Erin Kitzinger won a John Welch Scholarship -- named after the SFF founder -- and has been producing small, attention-grabbing films elsewhere ever since. Most recently, her "Hope for a Thorn" won the Audience Award for Narrative Feature at the Gasparilla International Film Festival.

Kitzinger, 27, moved to Chicago, where she is a freelance editor. "Sarasota is just such a beautiful town," she said. "I would love to shoot down there."

"Deadly Closure" director Andrzej Mrotek, 28, has bounced from Colorado to North Carolina to California during his young career. He quickly burned out on the Hollywood scene.

"As much as I loved L.A., it was a nightmare to shoot anything there," Mrotek said. "It's like everything out there's been used up and thrown away. It's just a business. There's no passion."

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