Get On Up
When director Tate Taylor’s The Help–nominated for Best Picture, Best Leading Actress and Supporting Actress Oscars–shot in Mississippi in 2010, it helped the state and local municipalities (particularly the city of Greenwood) in assorted ways beyond the dollars it directly poured into the economy. The film also paved a path for an increased incentives package to attract future filming into Mississippi, spurred on not only tourism throughout the state but also the development of a community center and mentoring program in historic Baptist Town, served to lift the spirits of many residents, and helped to bolster the state’s filming resources and infrastructure.

Taylor, who is looking to further build the filmmaking community in his native Mississippi, has returned to once again shoot in his home state, this time with Get On Up, the biopic on James Brown, the Godfather of Soul. Chadwick Boseman (who gave a stirring performance as Jackie Robinson in 42) portrays Brown.

Taylor was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, later attending college at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, and a lot of his family still lives in the state. After having been in Los Angeles for 17 years, Taylor now resides in Churchill, Mississippi.

Asked what drew him to Mississippi for the lensing of Get On Up, Taylor related, “Cinematically, I find it very hard to fake the South. The South needs to be a visual character and there’s no better place to shoot the geography, landscape, people and architecture than Mississippi.  Every bit of Get On Up was filmed in Mississippi.”  

Especially gratifying about shooting Get On Up in Mississippi, observed Taylor, “was using and employing the native musicians in our state who got to leave their everyday jobs to do what they love, which is play instruments in a major motion picture.”

In terms of promoting filmmaking in Mississippi, Taylor said, “Governor Phil Bryant, Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves, Speaker of House Philip Gunn and I worked tirelessly for two years to get legislation passed which would match the incentives of Louisiana.  One additional benefit to Mississippi is that we’re a cash back state, not credits.  At a state level, everyone knew how important it was to bolster incentives to bring work to the state.  I’m really proud to say we’ve been entirely successful and the enthusiasm for shooting in local communities is really strong.”

Legislative Docket: CA, NC
Last month, Assembly Bill 1839 cleared a major hurdle, gaining approval from the California State Assembly. AB 1839 would increase the state tax filming credit to as much as $400 million a year to better compete with tax subsidies in other states and overseas. Currently California’s Film & Television Tax Credit program allocates $100 million annually using a lottery system to award tax breaks to a limited number of production companies who apply.

AB 1839 would also enable a broader range of productions to qualify for the incentives, which can help producers reduce their tax liability by as much as 25 percent of the cost of qualified production expenditures.

AB 1839 will next be considered by California’s Senate. If it passes there, it would then go before Gov. Jerry Brown for final approval. Prospects for a Senate passage and Brown’s support are unclear. But clearly demand already far exceeds what California’s Film & Television Tax Credit presently offers. Earlier this month, the number of applications submitted on the first day of the application period rose more than 30 percent to 497, compared to 380 on the first day of the application period last year.  The number of projects selected initially for a tax credit allocation dropped to 23, compared with 34 last year. The remaining 474 projects submitted on the first day of the application period will be placed on a waiting list. As in prior years, it is expected that a significant number of wait list projects may be allocated tax credits, as approved projects withdraw due to scheduling delays or other production-related factors. When a project withdraws, its credits are reassigned to the project next in line on the waiting list. A complete list of specific projects approved for tax credit allocations will be released by the California Film Commission on July 1.

Meanwhile, North Carolina also has some activity on the legislative front. Senate Bill 743 proposes to replace the current film production incentive program in North Carolina with a grant program, effective January 1, 2015. Highlights of the program are as follows:

    Create a grant program to provide an incentive equal to 25% of qualifying expenses;
    Allocate $20 million to the grant program for 2015;
    Establish a per project cap of: $5 million for features and video or TV series; and, $250,000 for commercials;
    Award the grant proceeds over a period of time not to exceed three years;
    Require a minimum spend of $10 million for features, $1 million per episode for video or TV series and $250,000 for commercials;
    Establish a salary cap of $1 million per employee;
    Require the production to provide screen credit to North Carolina;
    Require income tax withholding on payments made to loan out companies;
    Specify that priority will be given to productions that maximize the benefit to North Carolina;
    Require an audit of qualifying costs by a CPA licensed in North Carolina; and,
    Establish a sunset date of June 30, 2020.

TV Production soars in NY
Empire State Development (ESD) announced that New York is generating another record-breaking year for television production in the state after only five months into 2014.  In less than half the time than last year, a total of 23 pilots have filmed in New York, yielding an estimated $127 million in spending and an estimated 15,915 jobs, compared to 23 pilots filmed with an estimated $117 million in spending and an estimated 13,150 jobs in all of 2013.

Additionally, 10 series have shot in New York in 2014, yielding an estimated $346 million in spending and an estimated 18,130 jobs, compared to six series shot with an estimated $317 million in spending and an estimated 18,730 jobs through May 2013.  The record-breaking growth of television production in 2013 has increased in 2014 thanks to the State’s film and television tax credit program, which has been enhanced and expanded during Governor Cuomo’s administration.

“The state’s film and television tax credit program is attracting a record number of productions and New York has become a top destination for filming,” said Empire State Development president, CEO and commissioner Kenneth Adams. “Governor Cuomo has made the entertainment industry a key component of our economic development strategy and the results are clearly paying off for New York State–the production and postproduction industries are growing at a rapid pace, hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested, and thousands of New Yorkers are working in the industry.”

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