New York State Senator Patrick Gallivan has called for location filming tax credits to be increased for western parts of the state. Filming costs climb as productions travel further from New York City and Senator Gallivan wants to tackle this for western cities like Buffalo.
New Mexico’s proposed ‘Breaking Bad bill’ would increase the state’s location filming tax credit for TV productions to 30% from the existing 25% figure. The bill is named after the acclaimed TV drama that comes to an end this year after five seasons based in Albuquerque.
Ireland will boost its location filming incentive to further entice producers as international competition increases. From 2015 the Irish programme - known as Section 481 – will offer a 32% payment on qualifying payment, a 4% increase on the current figure.
Australia is courting Disney’s big-budget remake 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo by doubling its location filming offset for a one-off payment. Disney has scouted filming locations in Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales for the shoot that David Fincher will direct.
Maryland may triple the value of its location filming incentive, but only on a short-term basis. The state is in the spotlight having played host to high-profile political drama House of Cards, which is the first series to be distributed exclusively online via Netflix.
Colombia has launched its new 40% location filming incentive, intended to attract international producers. The programme is available for features and TV movies that spend USD600,000 locally.
Limited funding for Pennsylvania’s filming incentive programme means the pilot episode for a Pittsburgh-set Hatfields & McCoys TV series is scouting alternate East Coast locations. Pennsylvania’s programme is capped at USD60 million a year and cannot accept new applications until April 2013.
A plan to launch a location filming incentive in the state of Maine in the north-eastern US is proving controversial. One local politician wants to offer a production rebate for feature films, but he’s battling suggestions that the economic benefits for the state will be hard to measure.