The success of Hollywood South in Louisiana has been well documented, from its lucrative tax incentives to its recent infrastructure development, like the opening of new post production studios and full service stages.
Now, P3 Update , the internationally-distributed trade publication has ranked Louisiana number one in the entire nation for film production. In their own words:
The state currently offers motion-picture productions a 30-percent transferable credit on total in-state expenditures, with no cap and a minimum-spending requirement of $300,000. For productions using in-state labor, Louisiana offers an additional 5-percent labor-tax credit on the payroll of employed residents. Louisiana is currently nine to ten crews deep, a nearly 400 percent increase since 2002. “We have seen a 22-percent growth in the industry’s workforce each year,” says Louisiana Entertainment Film Director Chris Stelly. “In addition, our infrastructure continues to mature at an exponential rate and a film of any size can spend 80 to 90 percent of their budget in Louisiana. We offer basically everything a production could want or need ─ from processing to trucks, as well as stages, to high-end visual effects.”
The publication states that in the fiscal year 2009–10, Louisiana drew $674.1 million in direct spend thanks to over 100 productions.