By Jacqueline Williams
North Carolina is once again
seeing profits according to the NC Film Office.
Last year at this time, the office reported a remarkable $250 million had
been spent in the first six months. Once again, in the first six months of 2014,
the state has surpassed last years’ numbers, and is reporting, “$268 million has
been spent thus far”.
Last year a reported “35 productions had filed “intent to film" forms, whereas “40 productions had filed “intent to film” forms
indicating that they have filmed or will film in the Tar Heel State, this
year. So far this year, there have
been over 3,000 crew jobs available, 500 rewarding talent positions, and more
than 15,000 offers’ for background talent.
Some
of the production companies that continued there production here despite the
looming of the state’s sunset clause are the television series Under The Dome on CBS, Banshee on Cinemax,
and Sleepy Hollow on FOX”. Soon a
series called Secrets & Lies, which is adaptation from an Australian
television series, and stars Ryan Phillippe, will air
on ABC”. There
are some more upcoming films shooting in our state to include Max, The
Longest Ride, Max Steel and the Untitled Armored Car
project. Some film productions have
already wrapped up in the past six months such as Ashby and Union
Bound,
along with commercials for Biomet, Pepsi, and Xarelto.
House Bill 1142 entitled the Modify Film/Historic Rehab Tax Credits was introduced in the North Carolina House on May 20,
2014 before they recessed. This bill was
“introduced by Ted Davis (R-New Hanover County), Frank Iler (R-Brunswick
County), Susi Hamilton (D-New Hanover County), and Becky Carney (D-Mecklenburg
County) and has also gathered multiple co-sponsors. As introduced, the
bill would effectively eliminate the current sunset date of January 1, 2015 of
the state’s 25% refundable tax credit for productions and would raise the
minimum direct in-state spend to $300,000.
The current minimum on the existing bill is $250,00”. Hopefully the North Carolina General Assembly
will vote on this bill soon, so we can keep this industry alive in our state.
