Georgia lawmakers have rejected a bill that would limit the amount the state can spend on tax incentives for film and television production, reaffirming the increasingly popular production center's status as one of California's biggest rivals. The legislation died this week in the Senate after easily passing through the House in February, according to the Associated Press.
But by the time the bill failed, efforts to limit Georgia's spending on production tax credits had already failed.
The original version of the bill was supposed to cap Georgia's annual spending on production incentives at 2.5% of the state budget — or about $900 million. For context, Georgia is expected to give away $1.35 billion in filming credits this year alone, according to Joe Chianese, senior vice president of Entertainment Partners, a company that tracks production incentives around the world.
However, the Senate Finance Committee effectively eliminated the proposed credit cap last week by amending the bill to limit annual spending to 2.3% — or about $830 million — while excluding major studio productions from the cap. In practice, such a law probably wouldn't have changed anything — $830 million would have been more than enough to cover smaller independent productions, while big studios like Netflix and Marvel would have been exempt.
Film and television production in Georgia has skyrocketed in recent years, including countless blockbuster projects ranging from Tyler Perry's “Madea” series and Marvel's “Avengers: Endgame” to Netflix's “Stranger Things.”
There are at least 39 film and television projects currently filming in the Peach State, including Season 6 of Netflix's “Cobra Kai,” Season 2 of ABC's “Will Trent,” and Sony's upcoming landmark picture ” SNL 1975″.
Georgia is among several rising production centers (including Louisiana, New York, Canada, and the United Kingdom, to name a few) whose growing infrastructure and generous tax credit programs have lured studios away from California. The Golden State's tax incentive budget for film and television production currently stands at $330 million annually.
