Motion Picture Tax Credit Bill Advances in Louisiana

How many times have you gone in search of a movie or TV location in Louisiana? Sometimes when I have out-of-town company they want to see where "NCIS: New Orleans" or "Girls Trip" was filmed. And it's a blast to find these places! We're lucky that we live in a state that values the television and film industry. After all, we are known as the "Hollywood of the South".

And some of our Louisiana legislators want that to continue, with a motion picture tax credit bill that is currently advancing in the state legislature. Making movies and TV shows here is a huge economic impact, which was greatly affected by the coronavirus pandemic last year.

According to WGNO, a bill sponsored by Senator Sharon Hewitt will extend the current date (or "Sunset" date) on the movie industry tax credit through the Motion Picture Production Program. This will encourage filmmakers to hire locals to work on productions filmed in the state of Louisiana. The original tax credit program was started in 2017 and offers a 25% credit for productions based in Louisiana. It also offers incentives if filming is done in the New Orleans metro area, and if local residents are hired. That means movies can get up to $22 million dollars, and TV shows up to $25 million.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser is supporting the bill, and WGNO states that an estimated 53% of tourists said a movie or show influenced them to visit the state. There are detractors, however, with some legislators saying that costs up to $180 million can't be offset by the obvious benefits of having films made in our state. Read more about the tax bill at WGNO