Everyone Else Is Doing It...

Every state in the union wants to be in the popular film incentives clique! In addition to our very own beloved Aloha state, Idaho, Tennessee, Maine, Wisconsin, and California (and others, I'm sure) are looking to pass tax credits and other incentives to lure film and TV productions.

Everyone's jealous of what's happening in Louisiana, New Mexico, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Missouri, Florida, Oregon, and now Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Arizona, South Carolina, Georgia, and Mississippi, and of course, Canada, which remains a strong competitor with its extensive menu of federal, provincial, and regional tax incentives.

Check out some of what's being proposed this year in incentive-less states:

• Tennessee: 25% rebate for productions over $500K plus bonuses for hiring TN residents
• Maine: Refund equal to 2x income taxes paid by productions over $250K
• Wisconsin: 25% investment tax credit, sales and use tax exemption, 15% income tax credit to resident WS artists, free state locations
• Idaho: sales and use tax exemption for productios over $200K
• California: 12% rebate up to $3 million per production, 15% break for some TV shows, 10% for qualified commercial production companies could get a 10% credit

California is really hurtin' from the competition. Film L.A., which issues filming permits for the L.A. area, recently reported that while there was slight growth (about 4%) in production between 2004 and 2005, the level of production overall is still trending downward. Feature film production, for instance, saw 9,518 production days in 2005, way below the 1996 peak of 13,980. TV production, which had been rising steadily since 1999, saw severely slowed growth last year--just 2.6% versus 2004. And about 30% of the TV production is attributable to smaller-budget, smaller-crew reality shows.

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