Pritzker to visit California to promote IL film

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, joined by Illinois film officials and stakeholders, will depart Sunday, March 24 for an economic development mission to California to promote Illinois to business and film industry leaders.

Building on the success of Illinois’ Illinois Film Production Services Tax Credit, the governor and representatives from the Illinois Film Office and Illinois Production Alliance, will meet with major studios and distributors to discuss increased opportunities for investment in Illinois.

“The strides Illinois has made in growing our film and television production sector in recent years is nothing short of remarkable, and it’s time to ensure that every production company and studio knows exactly what we can offer them here in the Land of Lincoln,” Gov. Pritzker said in a release this week. “This trip will be a chance to shed a light on what the Illinois Film Production Services Tax Credit as well as our increased film infrastructure can offer companies who may be looking to expand beyond Southern California.”

“I think it’s great that the governor is going to California,” Davenport film and media consultant Doug Miller said Friday. “He’ll be talking to from production companies to studio people, all the various entities that Illinois has already had some relationship with or are looking to have relationships with – and the governor’s a friend of film. I mean, that’s just all there is to it.

“I’m just glad he’s out there doing it,” he added. “He’s been very good to the Quad Cities, from working with Senator Mike Halpin, who’s been a great, great supporter from day one,” Miller said.

“When production companies choose Illinois, they not only get the benefits of the state’s Film Production Services Tax Credit, gorgeous locations, and top-flight infrastructure across the state, they also get access to a dedicated, talented workforce,” Christine Dudley, executive director of the Illinois Production Alliance, said in the state release.

“One thing that everyone agrees on – labor, business, and government alike – is that bringing more film and television production to Illinois benefits everyone,” she said.

“Through the competitive tax credit incentive enacted by Governor Pritzker, Illinois’ film industry is breaking records and proving its reputation as an industry leader,” said Kristin Richards, head of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.“The Illinois Film Office welcomes the opportunity to tout our successes while showing Hollywood studios and companies why they should consider doing business in Illinois.”

Pritzker will begin his trip in the San Francisco Bay area, meeting with business executives to promote Illinois’s investments in quantum computing and manufacturing. Following these meetings, the governor will go to Los Angeles for several days of meetings with film studio executives and major production companies to discuss Illinois’s tax credit for film production and other attractive incentives for the film industry.

Pritzker will be joined by representatives from the Illinois Film Office and the Illinois Production Alliance.

“Our goal is to strengthen our relationships with Hollywood studios and streamers. No one speaks to the strengths of Illinois better than Governor Pritzker,” Peter Hawley, deputy director of the Illinois Film Office, said Friday. “Ideally, we will be successful in bringing more productions to Illinois as a result of our visits.”

In 2022, Pritzker extended the landmark film industry tax credit through 2032. The incentive program, which offers tax credits for local labor and production expenditures, has been a key factor in Illinois landing major productions, the state said.

Recently, Illinois broke previous records for the film industry investment with 2022 seeing $700 million in production expenditures, far exceeding pre-pandemic levels, the state release said.

Illinois’ tax credit has resulted in a $6.81 return on investment for every dollar spent on the incentive, resulting in $3.6 billion in economic activity between FY17 and FY22. 94 percent of Illinois’s current film industry economic impact is attributed to the impact of the tax credit enacted by Gov. Pritzker.

Rock Island-based Fresh Films was recently awarded a $3.8-million state of Illinois grant, to help build a new film production studio and sound stages in Rock Island County. It was among three grant recipients (totaling $10 million), including new studios in Chicago and Champaign.

For more information on the Illinois Film Office, click HERE.

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