No Silver Lining, yet, for PA’s Playbook…

It is that time of year again, Awards Season, and this year is no exception. Recently, the movie industry has been giving us some great films such as Silver Linings Playbook, Promised Land, Jack Reacher, The Dark Knight Rises, and Blood Brother, just to name a few. Some have won awards and/or are up for more awards, however, what is it that all these recent movies have in common? At first, one would think famous actors or large budgets, but in reality the common denominator among these popular movies are taxes.

The Dark Knight Rises filming at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh

As a film producer, one must always be concerned about budgets, and films have many costs associated with them. Everything from cast and crew to location and food needs to be accounted for in the budget of a movie. Moreover, when you have a large blockbuster like The Dark Knight Rises, keeping a manageable budget can be quite difficult. However, with these large budgets come job opportunities and not just jobs for people who live in Hollywood, but local jobs where these movies are filmed. Nowadays, not all movies are filmed in Hollywood studios with large ice machines pelting actors with fake snow in the warm California sunshine pretending to be in Siberia. Some movies are filmed in other states where producers can take advantage of cost savings and it is the states themselves who are encouraging Hollywood to do so.

Silver Linings Playbook Filming at Llanerch Diner near Philly.

So, how do taxes bring these movies together? Lets take a look at Pennsylvania, another common denominator of the mentioned films and, in the past few years, has been very proactive in bringing productions to their state. In 2007, they rolled out Act 55, which is the Film Tax Credit Law, and according to the Pennsylvania Department of Community & Economic Development, “A project is eligible if at least 60 percent of the project's total production budget is used for Qualified Pennsylvania production expenses.” It is this act that has allowed a large influx of productions to Pennsylvania and, again, with large movie budgets comes more jobs. According to an article from Variety, “Since 2007, the commonwealth has approved tax credits for 293 productions, which injected approximately $1.4 billion into its economy.” Furthermore, it seems that Pennsylvania films tend to be better films. Blood Brother, which is a documentary about a Pittsburgh native who wanders around India and stumbles upon an orphanage for kids with HIV and AIDS, recently won two big awards at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival: U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary and Audience Award for U.S. Documentary. Silver Linings Playbook, which has received eight Academy Awards nomination, including best picture, also took advantage of the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit by filming in and around Philadelphia.

Charlize Theron to produce Hatfields & McCoys pilot.

Unfortunately, areas like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia are becoming such popular destinations for film productions that they are burning through Pennsylvania's tax credit too fast. Places like Pittsburgh, that can be made to look like most major cities, are starting to lose some productions due to the insufficient tax credit funds. In an article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, said “We've lost seven feature films in the last couple of months, all from major studios, because of our inability to provide a tax credit." Furthermore, the state’s tax credit program has stopped taking applications for the credit until April 1^st. Currently, Pittsburgh alone has several feature films and TV shows underway, including a pilot for a “Hatfields & McCoys” television series produced by Charlize Theron. However, if the tax credit is not extended, Pennsylvania will start seeing more productions move out of the area along with the jobs, “we're competing against other states for this very lucrative, job-producing industry without any resources to help level the playing field,” said Mr. Keezer.