Offering such aggressive tax incentives are a challenge to each State, because attracting a big-budget production is only half the battle. Receiving the maximum tax incentive often requires a production to hire local crews, placing a burden on the State to provide qualified crews. Most states have enough people to work on one major production, but once a second movie or TV show commits, there aren’t enough people.

Several state film commissions use FilmSkills to train their local crews in an effort to attract bigger budget productions, making it a win-win scenario for everyone involved.  The productions bring badly needed revenue into the state, supporting the local economy. Fringe businesses from hotels and restaurants to dry cleaners and rental companies all benefit from the millions of dollars spent.  Film commissions justify their use of tax incentives to the public while producers enjoy rich tax incentives.  And sitting in the middle of all of this is you and me, who benefit from high paying jobs.