Film Incentives Promising for Local Economy

FILM INCENTIVES PROMISING FOR LOCAL ECONOMY A new statewide incentive program to entice the film industry to Alaska took effect earlier this month. Since the announcement of the program last year, local film contractors have been fielding information requests from producers across the country. Several contractors have reported that scripts for documentaries, full-length features and adventure-based series are being rewritten specifically to include Alaska. The film incentive program provides a 30 percent transferable tax credit on qualified expenditures for qualified productions with no salary cap per employee. Winter productions filmed in rural Alaska using Alaskan crews can earn additional credits up to 44 percent. The emerging film industry could make a strong economic impact on Anchorage as it carries over to other sectors, such as professional services, transportation, hospitality and construction. With film productions comes a demand for office rentals, hotels, restaurants and catering, car rentals, guiding services and commercial construction, among other services. In anticipation of the incentive program, Evergreen Films recently constructed a multi-million dollar post-production studio in Anchorage and is working to find additional space for a sound stage. Learn more about Alaska’s new film incentive program here: www.commerce.state.ak.us/oed/film/bulletinboard.htm.