Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, April 18, 2007
(STATEHOUSE) - A tax credit for movie and TV productions that shoot in Indiana is on the brink of becoming law.
Last year, Indiana exempted film and TV production from sales tax. Filmmakers say that's not enough to get Hollywood's attention, and doesn't even cover the commercial production which forms the bulk of Indiana's film industry.
The House has sent Governor Daniels a bill granting a 15-percent tax credit on production costs, including hiring and purchasing. Neighboring Illinois offers 25-percent, but "Hoosiers" screenwriter and Bloomington resident Angelo Pizzo says 15-percent is enough to put Indiana in the game: Pizzo's trying to sell a pilot to TNT for a series called "A.D.," about an athletic director at a midwestern university. "And I don't want to shoot it in Champaign," Pizzo says.
Pizzo says as long as the cost gap between locations is relatively narrow, studios are generally willing to accept a filmmaker's artistic vision for why one location is more appropriate than another.
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