Three US States with Valuable Production Incentives
Three generous US state incentives you might not know about
Budgets for content have never been tighter.
Yet many unscripted producers continue to ignore a valuable source of potential funding, at their own peril: production incentives.
Mention incentives to producers of unscripted content (e.g. documentary, lifestyle, factual, reality) and they might shrug, thinking they’re only for big budget scripted productions.
Or that they’re too complicated. Or simply not worth the hassle.
But when it comes to filming in the US, there are dozens of states (and even counties and cities) that offer substantial incentives you might not be aware of—and unscripted content qualifies.
If you’re an industry veteran who’s never tapped incentives, why bother learning about them now?
Because as you continue to ignore them, your competition isn’t.
And guess what? They’re pitching similar content, to the same networks and streamers, at an incentives-subsidized lower price point — at a time when everyone’s tightening their programming budgets.
Who do think is going to land that greenlight?
But fear not! We’re here to guide you.
Here are just three valuable US state incentives that can help you deliver more, for less:
CONNECTICUT
When it comes to locations, Connecticut covers a lot of ground: from cities and quaint towns to seaside villages, historic homes and the natural beauty of the Taconic Range. Its incentive has helped turned Stamford, CT (less than an hour commute from NYC) into a bustling production hub.
THE DETAILS:
Connecticut's transferable tax credit is tiered, at 10% for $100-500K in eligible spend, 15% for $501-1M, and a generous 30% for over $1 million in local spend.
Digital animation and post qualify!
Resident & non-resident labor qualifies (withholding required)
Productions qualify if they meet any of these criteria:
Minimum 50% of principal photography days take place within CT OR
Minimum 50% of post costs spent within CT OR
Minimum $1 million in post costs in this state.
Find out more here.
KENTUCKY
The Bluegrass State is about more than bourbon and beautiful horse country. Locations include cities, small town Americana, Appalachian wilderness and more.
Kentucky offers a hefty 30-35% refundable tax credit (a 5% uplift is offered for production in certain counties)
The minimum local qualifying spend is $250K ($125K for Kentucky residents) for film/TV and $20K ($10K for Kentucky residents) for documentaries.
Reality qualifies!
The state allocates a generous $75M annually for these production incentives.
Non-resident labor qualifies for the 30% credit (they must register). There’s a 5% bonus for Kentucky crew, with a growing pool of searchable local talent via the Reel Scout database, which is maintained by the Cabinet for Economic Development.
Find out more here.
NEW MEXICO
New Mexico has been steadily luring production powerhouses, with Netflix committing $2 billion in production spending in the state over the span of ten years and NBC Universal building a $4.4 billion TV and film studio.
It isn’t called the Land of Enchantment for nothing: its stunning natural beauty (National Parks, rugged deserts, snow capped mountains) is the stuff of legend. But it offers plenty more to get the creative juices flowing, including cities, ghost towns…and let’s not forget this place.
New Mexico offers a refundable tax credit of 25-40%, which includes various bonuses (e.g. 10% uplift for filming outside Santa Fe & Albuquerque, uplifts when using qualified production facilities, and more).
No required minimum spend!
For union productions, there's a decent size union crew base (2,000+ members)
The state’s generous yearly incentives budget of $120M will increase by $10M every year until 2029 to grow with demand.
Competition shows, VR, video games, music videos, animation, indie films, post production–it all qualifies (assuming it meets other eligibility criteria).
Non-resident labor qualifies for a 15% credit (guidelines apply)
Find out more here.
This is just a quick summary. Each state program is unique, with its own requirements including application deadlines, rules on qualifying content and spend, caps, auditing requirements and more.
If that all sounds overwhelming – or if you’re confused about details like the difference between refundable and transferable tax credits – don’t worry!
We can help you make sense of it all.
For more details on the incentives above, global incentives in general, or how you can tailor your development strategy to best take advantage of the billions available in incentives yearly, drop us a line at carrie@globalcontentstrategies.com.
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