DISQUS

genegrant · 1 year ago

Our incentives, more accurately, were not the first of it's kind certainly. But for an important period they were/are certainly the "best" of it's kind. But there's a furious rush by many states to match and/or exceed.

For a clue, a Google search for "state by state filmmaking incentives," will reveal an interesting array of states either looking at this or recently passing legislature, including Alaska. They all get it now. Or they will. NC, for example, did not pass a higher level of incentives last go 'round and has paid a dear price. They had a lot of momentum cooking and it's fallen off markedly.

On the other end, New York has gotten off its high horse and revamped its incentive program to much success. But the one to watch is Michigan, who decided to take a "no brainer, go for it all" approach to incentives that has produced many dividends, including a sick 40% cash rebate, among other things. BUT, much like NM a few years ago, they lack crew and soundstages, so there's only so many who can take advantage.

Previously we were the only state (I believe) who dealt in hard cash (25%) back to prodco's vs. tax incentives. As Sinatra said, the best revenge is cash. I think this is a trend you'll see states adopt, but that's a hard sell in some legislatures.

The Variety pieces reveal a softer, but equally important "incentive" about NM when they talk lifestyle, etc. No legislature in other states can write that in.

Interesting to note that as recently as May of this year, Variety did a fairly comprehensive story (http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festiva...) ranking the top five states and their incentives, ranking us second to Louisiana.

Regarding LA., its a rather awe inspiring story of how they came roaring back on film work following Katrina. Its rather amazing, to the point where they are well on track in '08 to break their record for productions in '07, which was a stunning success.

But overall, we're in pretty good shape right now.