Could Hollywood be making a return to Michigan? I sure hope so! New legislation has just been introduced in both the Michigan House and Senate to restore a film tax incentive to bring film productions back to our state.
In previous years Michigan had one of the country's most enticing tax incentives for filmmakers and offered up to a 42% rebate on production costs. The bill was signed into law in 2008 by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and brought many big name productions to the state however, Gov. Rick Snyder discontinued that incentive in 2015.
At the height of film production in Michigan we saw major motion pictures such as Road to Perdition starring Tom Hanks, Transformers: The Last Knight starring Mark Wahlberg, and Batman v. Superman starring Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, all come to film in our state. When these large scale productions come to town they bring an entire crew who need lodging, meals, and entertainment. For example, the Transformers production alone had a crew of 850 members which means their dollars spent here while filming all benefit our state.
I must admit, I was very disappointed when I heard the state's film tax incentive was being repealed. It was fun to hear stories about celebrity sightings when these productions were in town and you never knew who you could run into! I remember one particular story about all the loud booms that shook downtown Detroit while Transformers was filming. It was exciting to know a little slice of Hollywood was in our state!
These days it seems like nearly everything we watch from The Walking Dead to Ozark to Avengers: End Game were all filmed in Georgia, a state with generous film tax incentives. I'm tired of Michigan missing out on all the action!
The new proposed bill will offer a base tax credit of 25% for in-state spending, in addition to another 5% for including a "Filmed in Michigan" logo, and a possible 30% tax credit for hiring Michigan residents. I call that a win-win!
It's a long process, but hopefully this new resolution will make it far enough to be signed into law someday soon.
Read article at WKFR
