Written by new-contact on Dec 20, 2011. Posted in Incentive News

Ohio calls for stronger filming tax credits after summer of The Avengers

Filming professionals in Ohio are calling for stronger state filming tax credits. The Avengers is one of the state’s highest-profile recent visitors, but Ohio's annual film fund is capped at just USD10 million and this figure has already been reached through to June 2012.

Ivan Schwarz is Executive Director of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission and believes the city has already lost up to eight different film projects because of the lack of incentives on offer in the coming months. Others are arguing for improvements to be made to the incentive scheme to maintain The Avengers' momentum.

To be competitive as a state with film incentives, it really needs to be a much more substantial figure than we have.

Tyler Davidson, Producer

Tyler Davidson is an Ohio-based producer and spoke to Cleveland.com: “To be competitive as a state with film incentives, it really needs to be a much more substantial figure than we have. For starters, they need to take it from USD10 million to USD25 million. If we don't keep the momentum going, it will all disappear.”

State authorities have hinted there may be a review of the existing programme in February 2012, but there are no guarantees. Filming incentives in the US are struggling to win public support at the moment and even face strong opposition in the traditional production hubs of New York and California.

(Photo copyright: Lisa Chamberlain)