How much did IRS spend filming 'Star Trek' spoof?
IRS staff members produced a spoof 鈥�Star Trek鈥� video for an agency conference in Southern California in 2010, according to a just-released .
The theme for the IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Division meeting in question was 鈥淟eading into the Future,鈥� so agency officials thought it was apropos to write a 6-minute scripted presentation that featured division leaders acting in a 鈥渢ax-themed parody,鈥� the inspector general audit said. The video was filmed on a mock set of the Starship Enterprise constructed at the agency鈥檚 New Carrollton, Md., audio-vision studio.
鈥淓mployees purchased the costumes using personal funds,鈥� the IG report concluded.
Look, we鈥檙e reporting this as straight as we can, all right? So don鈥檛 go making jokes about going boldly where no deduction has gone before, or setting tax tables to 鈥渟tun.鈥�
The actual video featured a voyage to the planet NoTax, where 鈥渃haos rules over order,鈥� according to the script. There鈥檚 also exploration of off-planet tax shelters.
No, .
The Small Business/Self-Employed Division did not break out the cost of making this epic, per se. But the IG figured that it took about 62 hours of staff time, at a total cost of $3,100. The set cost $2,400.
(By way of comparison, the latest installment in the actual movie series, 鈥淪tar Trek: Into Darkness,鈥� cost about $190 million. But it was longer.)
鈥淣o documentation was maintained to track any costs associated with the development of the other production costs, such as script development, makeup, lighting, and videotaping,鈥� according to the IG report.
The division spent a total of about $50,000 on videos for the conference, which paid for the 鈥淪tar Trek鈥� effort and a 3 minute , which featured 15 executives and managers dancing on stage.
This was cheap at the price if you consider how much the IRS spent on speakers for the same meeting: $135,500.
Of this, $17,000 went to a keynote speaker who used painting to demonstrate 鈥渉is message of unlearning the rules, breaking the boundaries, and freeing the thought process to find creative solutions to challenges,鈥� according to the IRS contract for the appearance.
According to the IG, at his keynote sessions the speaker created six paintings: Albert Einstein (1); Michael Jordan (1); Abraham Lincoln (1); U2 singer Bono (1); and the Statue of Liberty (2).
No Spock? No Captain Kirk? Looks like somebody missed an opportunity for entertainment synergy.
In total the IRS spent $4.1 million on this single 2010 conference, which included luxury suites for some officials and gifts for many of the 2,600 attendees.
