Georgia Tax Incentives Still Popular With Filmmakers and Voters Despite Political Issues

variety.com:

Todd Longwell Georgia’s base 20% transferable tax credit isn’t that impressive when compared to the tax credits in other top production hubs such as California (20%-25%), New York (30%) and New Mexico (25%-40%).

What sets the state’s film and TV production incentive apart is the 10% bump it gives projects for including its Peach State logo in their credits.

It’s a “gimme,” an offer no one is ever going to refuse, meaning the state’s incentive is effectively 30%, end of story. But, in February this year, state legislators introduced a major plot twist in the form of House Bill 1880, which threatened producers’ ability to get that extra 10% and, in turn, and the massive film and TV industry that has been built in Georgia since it established the current version of its incentive program in 2008.

Under the proposed law, productions would have been required to meet four of nine criteria to get the 10% bump. Finding a workable combination to meet the requirement — such as including the peach logo, participating in a state workforce development program and doing 20% of post-production spending in-state and 50% of in-studio shooting in Georgia — wouldn’t have been prohibitively difficult, but it would’ve put a damper on a program popular for its simplicity, as well as its generosity.