Tax experts in the US have criticised the value of filming incentives and say that state authorities are increasingly disillusioned. They argue that local economic benefits are short-term and that US communities are tired of being used as doubles for elsewhere in the country.
Accountancy giant PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has urged Northern Ireland to chase better regional filming incentives. The firm argues that Northern Ireland should push for targeted tax incentives to help compete with the Irish Film Board’s popular Section 481 programme.
The Alaska Film Office has been urged to prioritise productions that work “in the state’s best interests” following an audit of its filming incentive programme. Alaska’s filming tax credit was recently confirmed for ten years with a USD200 million film fund, although it remains controversial.
James Cameron has suggested that New Zealand could benefit from improving its filming incentives. The filmmaker hosted New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on a trip to the US and praised New Zealand for creating film industries that easily compete with the US and the UK.
Michigan has a film fund worth nearly USD60 million for the 2013 fiscal year. Support for the state’s filming industries has see-sawed over the past 12 months, with the 2013 figure representing new money, plus several million that was unused in the last fiscal year.
South Australia has become the first state in the country to offer payroll tax exemption for visiting productions. At the same time, national film body Ausfilm has renewed calls for Australia’s location offset incentive to be increased.
Over the next five years the British Film Institute (BFI) has pledged to boost its Film Fund by nearly GBP10 million a year and reaffirm its commitment to the whole of the UK. The investment plan is entitled Film Forever and follows an 18-month industry consultation.
The UK and Brazil have signed a co-production deal that will enable audiovisual projects from each country to benefit from their respective filming incentives. It’s the tenth such agreement that the UK has signed with countries and territories around the world.