A new report has urged Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania to expand its studio infrastructure and commit to a long-term filming incentive. Productions recently shot in the city include TV drama Banshee and Vin Diesel’s supernatural action movie The Last Witch Hunter.
Saskatchewan in central Canada has increased the amount of money it will offer to eligible productions seeking filming incentive support. The Creative Saskatchewan Investment Fund will now offer up to CAD 600,000, a sharp increase from the previous limit of CAD 250,000.
The California Film Commission has discussed the advantages of allocating its filming incentive tax credits according to how many jobs a production will create. California boosted its filming incentive earlier this year and is now considering 254 feature applications.
Georgia is preparing to launch a filming incentive in early 2016. Positioned on the intersection between Europe and Asia, the country is planning to offer a 20% rebate for international productions filming locally, but details of the required minimum spend have yet to be finalised.
New Zealand is to make its visual effects incentive more accessible to producers a year after the country’s overall filming incentive package was boosted. As an administrative change, Film New Zealand will be absorbed into the New Zealand Film Commission.
Michigan has ended its filming incentive programme. The news comes only a few months after superhero movie Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice wrapped principal photography in Detroit. However, the incentive itself had been in turmoil since the start of the year.
Massachusetts on America’s eastern seaboard is set to keep its 25% filming incentive following a decision from lawmakers. The state has hosted high-profile productions like The Fighter and American Hustle, and a new Ghostbusters movie is now filming locally.
An executive at Twentieth Century Fox has warned that Louisiana’s filming incentive changes could alienate big-budget features. Fred Baron is Fox’s executive vice-president of feature production and has filmed the new Fantastic Four and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in Louisiana.