Governor Rod Blagojevich signed a bill Monday giving film and television production companies tax credits if they film in Illinois, according to the Sun-Times. He signed the bill at the premiere of "The Break Up," a movied filmed last year in Chicago which stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston.
Blagojevich said "We've got a great state that's tailor-made for movies, with this new bill, we can do even more to attract the industry to Illinois and create more jobs."
The new law offers companies '20 percent tax credit on total Illinois production spending, including labor costs capped at $100,000 per person, spending with local vendors and housing. A previous law gave a 25 percent tax credit, but only on wages to each employee that was an Illinois resident and was limited to the first $25,000.'
State officials said that last year the film and TV industry brought in $94 million and 15,000 jobs, an increase from $77 million and 14,000 jobs in 2004.
Brenda Sexton, managing director of the Illinois Film Office added "I think the fact that the governor is signing the bill here is also a big statement to the country and especially to L.A. how committed our governor is to supporting this business and seeing it further developed," (Blagojevich) has been just a godsend to the production business. It was gone three years ago, and now look at us ... We're Hollywood!"
While all of these incentives by states and Canada to woo production is good for TV and film companies, almost everybody is getting on the bandwagon, and eventually, like we've talked about before here, it will become a commodity. It will simply be the price for entry for having production done in your area.
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