Why Burn Notice Needs to Finish in Miami

Political commissions should come with their own laugh tracks, because it’s always hilarious when elected officials attempt to make “business” decisions. Burn Notice, The USA network’s ratings darling about Michael Westen, a former CIA operative who’s been ‘burned’ and left to rot in a South Florida purgatory, is on the verge of losing the old Coconut Grove Convention Center that it’s called home since 2006. The producers are now scrambling to find a new set for the show’s seventh season, which might lead them to abandon the city altogether. Miami Commission Chairman, Marc Sarnoff, is spearheading the eviction campaign to make room for a new waterfront park.

As Michael Bay demonstrated, the entertainment industry can do wonders for our city. Burn Notice has generated over a hundred million dollars for our local economy during its six year run, in addition to the 240 thousand it pays annually to rent the convention center. The production’s energy needs are met locally; they hire local crews and extras, and the supplies needed to construct, blow-up and rebuild their sets are purchased from local retailers. Think about that intricate chain of commerce. It affects a lot of folks in this town. Disrupting it would cause a deficit that won’t be refilled by building another park in Coconut Grove.

Additionally, the financial numbers don’t account for the fact that Michael Westen’s weekly exploits bring our city to the national stage every week. Unlike CSI: Miami – which was mostly shot in LA- and Showtime’s, Dexter, – which left for LA after one season because of the outrageous cost of hurricane insurance – Burn Notice is actually filmed on location. Many of Miami’s scenic views, local treasures, and cultural landmarks make it into the production, bringing an authenticity to the character of our city that hasn’t been seen on screen since the days of Miami Vice.

Miami is a powerhouse of productions, but its potential is still incubating; we don’t have the clout to defiantly piss off Hollywood. Remember: there’s nothing on film that can’t be built in a sound stage in New Mexico.

Mr. Sarnoff produced his own line of theater – but didn’t exactly inspire hope for a compromise – by telling producer Terry Miller to not  “get up at the mic because I’m not going to entertain a discussion. You simply need to see me,” during a meeting at city hall.

We have to ask: What would Michael Westen say?

When attempting to present your city as a promiscuous Mecca for the entertainment industry, it’s imperative that you  not evict a nationally syndicated, critically revered show that flushes your economy with money, especially if said show pays rent to broadcast a forty-five minute weekly advertisement featuring your city. You also don’t want to demolish the very building that makes the stream of income possible. It’s imperative that you not replace that building with a park that won’t generate an ounce of revenue and become nothing more than a parade ground dog poop. Igniting these lapses of judgment into action can result in volatile fallout between you and the very hands you’re trying to eat from. 

 Television is fickle and transient. Shows die all the time for a variety of reasons: the public loses interest, ratings drop, and we all move on. Burn Notice will not run like The Simpsons, unless we’re willing to watch Michael Weston cash his social security checks and shoot from a Hoveround. The show has a limited number of seasons left int the tank . It is asinine to boot the production while its still fertile with great PR and economic subsidies.

Coconut Grove is already drowning in parks; Peacock and Kennedy Park are both within a mile of the convention center. Can’t the residents survive another year or two without another one?

Miami is sexy. It’s an international Dreamweaver that penetrates global imaginations with its free flowing auras of vice, beauty, and sunshine. But this incident could leave a dark bruise that could deter future productions from casting us.

You don’t mess with the film industry. They’ll flip you the bird, pack up and leave for a brothel of suitors begging for their presence with incentives and tax breaks. And if they need Miami for a scene or two, they’ll just build it on a sound stage in New Mexico. We can’t risk being black-balled by Hollywood.

If Burn Notice can’t stay in Coconut Grove, then it is imperative that the show be allowed to finish its run within the community that nurtured its success. At M3 studios, we’re waiting with open arms and a production house that’s camera ready.

M3 Staff