Lights, camera ... tax breaks!

updated 12:25 p.m. ET July 26, 2005

CLEVELAND - Jim Gelarden has been able to make a living working in an industry he loves, designing movie sets and helping plan television productions around the nation.

Seeing an established movie industry in his home state — and a chance to work in his native city — would make his job a lot sweeter. But for now, Gelarden must trade hometown dreams for good-paying gigs to the south.

“Film trucks have wheels so they can go anywhere and right now they’re going where the best deals are,” said Gelarden, a production designer from Cleveland whose resume includes the movie “Seabiscuit” and commercials for Pizza Hut and Nike. “And the best deals right now are in Louisiana.”

As more film productions jump to Canada and other low-cost countries, lawmakers around the nation are taking notice of the lure of Louisiana, which in 2002 began offering a 15 percent rebate on the cost of movie and TV productions valued at $8 million or more.

This year at least 13 other states — including Colorado, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island and South Carolina — have proposed creating similar incentives, mostly through tax rebates or exemptions, or adding to their existing breaks.

“Not unlike manufacturing, the film industry has increasingly been going out of the country and if you’re going to compete on a global scale it’s important that you have competing incentive programs or comparable incentive programs,” said Alex Schott, director of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Film and TV.

Louisiana’s program created hundreds of new jobs and spawned $375 million in 2004 revenue for the state from the making of films like “Ray” and “Mr. 3000.” The revenue was up from $20 million before the program.

In Ohio, a bill patterned after Louisiana’s would create a tax credit of 15 percent to 20 percent based on a film company’s total investment. The sponsor, Sen. Patricia Clancy, a Cincinnati Republican, expects the bill to get a hearing when the legislative session resumes this fall.

“We feel that if this investment is made in Ohio, more people will want to come, our tourism dollars will increase and more films will be made here,” she said. “And that of course leads to many more jobs.”

Actor Sean Astin of “Lord of the Rings” and “Rudy” screenwriter Angelo Pizzo back a bill lingering in the Indiana House of Representatives that would give a 30 percent state tax credit on productions, among other incentives. Pizzo, who’s also a producer, said he has two films he would shoot in Indiana if the measure becomes law.

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