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The Current State of Film and Television Tax Incentives in the United States
The Los Angeles region has historically been the world capital of moviemaking, but in recent years there has been significant competition among states to offer lucrative production tax incentives. For a time, Michigan ' the location of such films as Up In The Air with George Clooney and Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood ' was dubbed “The Hollywood of the Midwest” thanks to a refundable credit of up to 42%. Georgia, which offers up to a 30% transferable tax credit with no production cap, has been referred to as “the Hollywood of the South,” considering its location for The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock, and Flight starring Denzel Washington. Louisiana is another contender for the southern movie capital. It offers a tax credit of up to 35% and no production cap; both Killing Them Softly starring Brad Pitt and Django Unchained starring Jamie Foxx were filmed there.
This article surveys current tax-incentive opportunities in the United States for motion picture, television and interactive media productions. Presently, 40 states offer financial incentives designed to attract such productions.
The creation and growth of the incentives is a response to “runaway productions” that leave the United States to be produced in other countries. As early as 2005, a report by the Center for Entertainment Industry Data and Research (CEIDR) attributed this trend to factors including financial incentives and exchange rates. See, “The Global Success of Production Tax Incentives and the Migration of Feature Film Production from the U.S. to the World.” The success of the Canadian Production Services Tax Credit, enacted in 1998, offered a rebate of 11% on qualified labor along with individual provinces offering an additional rebate on labor from 11% to 47%. The credit, along with a favorable exchange rate (at the time, $1.00 U.S. was worth $1.47 Canadian) and the ability of Canadian cities, such as Toronto, to convincingly represent U.S. cities like New York, made Canada a popular draw for films and television.
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