Written by David Lewis on Dec 2, 2009. Posted in Incentive News

Hawaii, Germany, Australia and Iowa incentives

The Hawaii Film Office is going through a political restructuring which might result in its closure. The commissioner, Donne Dawson, and her staff are being let go, but a few clerical personnel will remain to deal with tax credit applications. Acts 215 and 221 (which provide a 100% tax credit for 5 years, dropping to 80% for 2009/2010) sunsets at the end of 2010, but the 15-20% refundable credit remains in place. The regional film commissions (Big Island, Honolulu, Kauai and Maui) are still in business, so locations and permitting support will be available.

The new Christian Democrat CDU and Free Democrat FDP government has pledged to further support Germany as a film location through its successful German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), revise the German film law and support the roll-out of digital cinemas.

Screen Australia has released new figures which show that the 40% producer offset has injected USD83 million into the budgets of 19 films in the past two years. However, some producers have mixed feelings about the impact of the offset on the local production industry, which is currently enjoying success but anticipating problems further down the line.

Hearings are taking place in Iowa to decide whether the state has to honour promised tax incentives for a number of productions. The state's film incentive programme is under investigation after reports surfaced of sloppy bookkeeping in the Iowa Film Office and questionable spending by some filmmakers who sought tax credits.