Georgia Now Tied for No. 3 in Worldwide Film Production
The tax incentives the Georgia legislature continues to pass for film production companies seem to be working.
Tied with Louisiana, Georgia is No. 3 in the world for film production based on numbers released from FilmL.A. – a not-for-profit office that operates in Los Angeles. The new ranking is up two spots from 2013 when Georgia placed behind Louisiana, Canada, California, and the UK.
The 2015 rankings are based on 109 feature films. Of the 109, 12 were filmed in the Peach State and, surprisingly, California led the pack with only 7 more films and none were of the top 25 live-action films at the worldwide box office in 2015, according to the study.
During the fiscal year for 2015. Georgia was home to 248 total film and television productions and brought the state over $6 billion in economic impact – at least according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
About Author
Jessica Szilagyi
Add a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Agree that Ga. is quite attractive mainly because of tax breaks. Secondarily we have diverse terrain, low labor costs and excellent cooperation with local and state government.
Anyone near the Ga. State Capital Monday saw a major production in process. Production staff was approximately 50/50 local/not local. Background actors and security were local while main actors and director were not local. Catering, transport vehicles and most supplies were local. Editing and payroll are done out of state.
Still not sure taxpayers get a net benefit in the end but on the surface it sure looks impressive.
The film and TV business spend a lot of money with local businesses, services snd labor. Those people still pay state and local sales and income taxes. Even out of towners spend a lot on food, gas, basic needs, and many have to rent their own housing once they are here. This is one incentive that works because thousands of Georgia residents and businesses see increased income.
Film makers would have to make over $14 in purchases for Georgia governments to break even on a $1 tax credit to break even as concerns sales taxes. Using a very generous general economic activity multiplier of 4 requires $3.5 in purchases for each tax credit. With 30% tax credits it’ll never happen.
Good deal.
Now let’s move on to providing tax credits to payment processors before they have to ask for them.