Hollywood Incentives

    

      State Senator Del Marsh is going to try to put incentives for movie makers on  hold for several years during the last few meeting days of the session.

The FOX TV station in Mobile has the story, which is Mobile-centric, of course, but the whole state would feel the impact.

Senator Marsh says the University of Alabama conducted a study on “An Evolution of Alabama’s Entertainment Industry Incentives Program and the Economic Impact of the Program’s Productions.”
He said the study focused on 24 films shot and produced in Alabama in the last three years and the study found production companies are getting more money than they’re supposed to.
“We intended giving tax incentives to these companies up to 35 percent but some of these companies are taking tax incentives that equate to 80 percent of the money they’ve invested in Alabama,” Marsh explained.
Right now, the State of Alabama will reimburse movie companies up to $15 million dollars for whatever they spend in the state.
By 2015, that cap moves to $20 million dollars and he wants to fix the so called “loophole” before then.
“I was shocked when I saw the results of what was happening,” Marsh said. “I want to get everyone’s attention, get it to the table and fix the problem.”

    

     Critics say the movie companies are playing one state against the other till they can go virtually anywhere they want to shoot a movie and get special consideration.
     The odds of the Marsh bill actually passing are slim to none...there are only a few meeting days left and the Education Budget is still not done. Legislators are off this week for Spring Break, which used to be called AEA Week.

[NOTE: a correction to the linked TV story: the amounts of money mentioned are maximums for the entire incentives program, not any single film or TV project. And some folks question the 80% figure mentioned by Sen. Marsh.]