WASHINGTON (SBG) - Watchdog group Open the Books found $1.2 billion was given to the film industry over 14 years through federal contracts.

“Who knew that Hollywood is taxing us, that we the taxpayers were subsidizing Hollywood through federal contracts?" said Open The Books’ Adam Andrzejewski to The National Desk’s Eugene Ramirez.

Andrzejewski says that auditors at Open the Books took a look at federal contracts for film production and film distribution.

“The largest agencies that contracted with film production and film distribution companies, no surprise, it was the United States military through the Department of Defense, about three-quarters of a billion dollars,” said Andrzejewski. “These are soft costs. This is for film production and film distribution. And so I think we need to take a hard look at these contracts.”

One company hired by the Department of Defense, Old Post Films, Inc., was contracted for $16 million worth of film production and distribution, according to Open the Books. The company produced “Starting Strong,” a reality-tv style show about life in the Army that was used as a recruitment tool for the U.S. military.

“There is a public purpose obviously with advertising with the United States military,” said Andrzejewski. “What you have to do is you have to look at do we really need the infomercial? Was it effective at recruitment? Or was it just feeding the military-industrial complex? And that's for the people to debate.”