April 16, 2021

Senate committee OKs film incentive extension

(neworleanscitybusiness.com)

A Louisiana Senate committee advanced without objection Thursday a proposal to extend the life of the state’s film subsidy program, which may be a tough sell for lawmakers looking to trim or eliminate tax incentives.

The motion picture program provides state-certified film and TV productions with up to a 40% tax credit on eligible in-state expenditures. The program can issue up to $150 million in credits per fiscal year, and recipients can claim up to $180 million per fiscal year.

Senate Bill 173 by Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell, calls for extending the program’s scheduled sunset from 2025 to 2031. The longer runway would make the state more attractive to film and TV producers, who often plan projects several years in advance, and to potential investors in the state’s film industry infrastructure, supporters said.

Hewitt is not asking lawmakers to change the credit caps.

“The net impact on the state [budget] is going to be exactly the same,” she said.

By: David Jacobs

Continue Reading at neworleanscitybusiness.com

Minnesota film tax credit bills could bring movie, TV production boom to Northland

(duluthnewstribune.com)

Could Duluth become the next Hollywood?

Maybe, if bipartisan film tax credit bills pass in the Minnesota House and Senate this year to incentivize production companies to choose the state as a filming location.

The proposed incentive would create a transferable tax credit of up to 25% on in-state purchases for production of movies and TV shows. More than 30 other states currently have some sort of film incentive in place, which is a huge motivator when production companies plan where to shoot projects.

“An incentive program like a film credit is the only way to build a thriving industry in Minnesota because so many other states and countries have implemented film credits,” Sen. David Tomassoni, of Chisholm, an author of the Senate bill SF 1986, said during a Senate tax committee meeting Thursday morning. “Due to their success, it’s now a necessary condition for attracting large projects.”

Philip Gilpin, executive director and CEO of Catalyst Story Institute in Duluth, said the company moved to Duluth in 2018 because it looked like the state was close to getting this incentive. A colleague of Gilpin’s at HBO told him that if Minnesota had film incentives, he would’ve chosen to shoot $100 million worth of productions here in 2019.

By: Laura Butterbrodt

Continue Reading at duluthnewstribune.com