Pennsylvania Renews $60M Film & TV Production Tax Credit Program
There will be no increase or decrease in Pennsylvania’s Film and Television Production Tax Credit for the next four years. The state budget signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett on Sunday keeps the Keystone State’s program funded and capped at $60 million a year until 2017-2018. State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi had advocated uncapping the program, as is the case in a dozen other states around the country, but the legislator — a Republican like Corbett — was unsuccessful in his efforts. Attracting the likes of After Earth, The Perks Of Being A Wallflower and Jack Reacher in recent years, Pennsylvania’s program has a 25% tax credit for in-state production expenditures of 60% or more, and an additional 5% credit if the production shoots at Sun Center Studios in Aston. The state has had a film and TV incentive program since 2004; the $60 million approved late last month is down from the high of $75 million the program had a few years back. A report earlier this year by the state’s Independent Fiscal Office estimated that the film and TV industry in Pennsylvania made $248 million in wages in 2011 – the sixth highest in the country that year. Pennsylvania is the latest of several states to reaffirm or up its incentives to entice lucrative film and TV production. Last month the Texas Legislature upped its TV and film production incentive to $95 million over the next two years. Maryland recently increased its film tax credit program from its current $7.5 million for the fiscal year 2014 to $25 million, and New Mexico’s new “Breaking Bad” film and TV 30% incentives took effect in April, with that law named after the AMC series that shoots and takes place in the state. The New Mexico law also provides for the roll-over of up to $10 million in unused funds in each fiscal year.
California provides $100 million annually in film and TV tax credits handed out in a lottery system every June. New York offers the biggest incentives in the entire country with $420 million in credits annually.
Related stories
CAA Signs Filmmaker-TV Titan J.J. Abrams
Next Up For J.D. Salinger Docu: Film Distribution Deal To Follow S&S Book Pact
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
