“We stopped getting film requests in the fall of 2014, but things had been set in motion earlier when film industry trade publications began to report on the legislative debate to end film incentives,” Rebecca Clark, executive director of the N.C. Piedmont Triad Film Commission.
Georgia and North Carolina said “lights, camera, action” to film production incentives in the mid-2000s.
North Carolina began in 2005 with up to a 15 percent tax credit for qualifying productions, raising it to 25 percent in 2009.
Meanwhile, Georgia began with a 20 percent tax credit in 2004 and padded it to 30 percent in 2008.
The incentives enabled the states to compete regularly, and relatively equally, for high-profile feature films from major studios, along with independent productions, television shows and commercials.
For example, in 2013, Georgia paid $231 million in film tax credits — nearly four times the $61 million from North Carolina.
Yet, North Carolina was able to gain productions during 2013 that included “Iron Man 3,” “Revolution,” “Homeland,” “Tammy,’ “Sleepy Hollow,” “Under the Dome,” “Banshee” and “Eastbound and Down.” Two feature films — “The Ultimate Life’”and “You Are Here” — were shot in the Triad.
Film advocates in both states could agree to “win some, lose some” while counting on an increasing industry spotlight on the Southeast to attract a steady flow of productions.
The competition, however, essentially ended in 2014.
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