March 12, 2012
A brief update on the California, New York and federal film and television production incentive programs:
California:
On February 23, State Assembly Member Felipe Fuentes introduced a new bill, AB 2026, to extend California’s film and television tax incentive program for an additional five years/$500 million. The extension is intended to provide additional stability to the program, which has been credited with generating $2.9 billion in spending and creating 29,000 jobs throughout California. The program was first enacted in 2009 and was extended by an additional year last year.
New York:
In 2010, the New York State Legislature renewed its film and television tax incentive program for an additional five years and increased the amount of funds available to $420 million per year. New York is currently enjoying a bumper crop of television series filming in the state.
Federal:
The federal film and television tax incentive program, known as Section 181, is part of a broader set of 60 tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011. These tax provisions, commonly known as the Tax Extenders package, are generally extended by Congress for one- or two-year terms. This time, however, Congress did not extend the package at the end of 2011 so all of the provisions lapsed or expired. As a result, Section 181 is not currently available or useable for production planning and financing purposes, although it is likely that it would be made retroactive to January 1, 2012 should it be extended in the future. The DGA will continue its efforts to support the renewal of Section 181 as a valuable tool to help fight runaway production.
- For more information about production incentives, click here to visit the initiatives section of www.dga.org