Saturday Film Incentive News Round-up…

Here’s a look at some of the week’s news about film incentive programs around the country.  Now, you know the focus of this site is Oregon’s film and TV industry, and its effect on the state’s economy.  It’s important to keep an eye on trends nationwide, though.  As GOFTV Executive Director Vince Porter recently noted on the Oregon Confluence blog,

“…it is still a buyers market out there and we are in a large pool of states competing hard for the business.”

While each state’s incentive program is different, it’s important to note that what happens around the country can affect our film and TV industry here in Oregon.  As we continue to build our industry, we need to keep an eye on the choices other states have made – and learn from their successes and mistakes.

So, with that…

The big news of the week comes from New Jersey.  ”The Garden State” has joined a growing list of states around the country who are suspending or cutting back their film incentive programs in an effort to balance their budgets - much to the dismay of the people and businesses earning their livelihood from local film and TV production.  The new state budget, due July 1, ends the state’s 20% Film Industry tax credit.  According to the MPAA, an industry trade group (and the folks behind that G-PG-NC17-R rating system),  this move by the state’s governor and legislature is going to cost the state a lot of jobs and income:

… more than $500 million in wages were paid in 2008 — the latest year available — to nearly 7,000 production workers in New Jersey. More than 3,000 small businesses who supplied major studios also received a total of $508 million…” (NJ.com)

Yesterday Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, the state’s highest-profile production, closed up shop in North Bergen, NJ as a result of the incentive program’s end.  The show is expected to move production to New York, which recently increased its film incentive fund.

The parallels for Oregon, with its own weekly TV show shooting in the Portland area, couldn’t be more clear.  What remains to be seen is how much of the $500 million in wages paid to NJ film workers (not to mention the over $500 million paid to vendors who supplied the industry) will survive the loss of their incentive program.  Law and Order: SVU will obviously put a big hole in that figure – and we don’t hear of any new productions stepping in to fill that hole.  It will be important for Oregon to watch New Jersey in the wake of this decision to see the long-term after-affects…

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For every state where film incentive programs are being cut or suspended, it would appear other states are stepping up to attract new business. 

In North Carolina, a new incentive plan has recently passed in the state house that attempts to keep the state’s industry competitive  – and to keep productions from leaving the state and to relocating to neighboring states with better incentive packages.

In Maryland, film incentives are front and center in the news as a former governor running for State House is pledging (if reelected) to rebuild the state’s incentive plan to its previous level.  Candidate Robert Ehrlich has gotten a great deal of support from workers in the state’s film and TV industry, who have been leaving to find work in other states since the incentive plan was slashed from $7 million to $1 million three years ago.

This last one is near and dear to my heart… as many of you know I spent a significant part of my life in Alaska, and it was always frustrating to see movies and TV shows set in Alaska… but not FILMED in Alaska.  The state is changing that with a recently passed incentive package that is already starting to yield dividends.  The holiday-themed Christmas With A Capital C recently wrapped in SouthEast Alaska, and the Drew Barrymore vehicle Everybody Loves Whales is set to begin shooting in September.