Incentives

$242 Million Reasons Why You'll Want to Film in the Sunshine State

The transferable tax credit program began July 1, 2010. A new five year program with $242 million in tax credits will be available over five years. During the 2010-2011 fiscal year, $53.5 million in transferable tax credits will be authorized for distribution. Qualified projects will receive 20% to 30% back for qualified Florida expenditures.

2010-2011 Incentive Program Application Summary:
At the Film Florida meeting in late June 2010 in Jacksonville, Lucia Fishburne, State of Florida Film Commissioner presented the following summary. The State Film Office will be able to provide the final certification summary broken out by types of projects and the regions of the state they indicated they will be in after the July 5th. They will not be able to indicate the actual names of the projects - just the types of projects.

Background: June 9th was the first day applications were accepted for the FY2010-2011 Incentive Program. The projects submitted all must start principal photography or production within 180 days of the application date. A summary is provided below.

Status: The Governor's Office of Film and Entertainment is currently reviewing, qualifying, and certifying projects up to the $53.5 million available in FY2010-2011 credit. The OFE has 20 business days from the date an application is received to qualify and certify the project. In the event they run out of credits, projects are placed on our current year wait list or may also opt to be placed in the queue for the subsequent year's tax credits. Those credits cannot be certified until July 1, 2011.

Summary Data:
500+ Total Submissions (includes duplicate submissions)
94 Total Unique Projects

• 41 Theatrical Motion Pictures
• 2 Direct-to-Video Motion Pictures
• 1 TV Pilot
• 17 TV Series (2 High Impact)
• 15 Video Games
• 3 VFX Sequences (in conjunction with a motion picture)
• 2 Telenovelas
• 9 Documentaries
• 4 Digital Media Projects

$511 million in estimated Florida expenditures *

• $291 million in wages to be paid to Florida residents
• 37,000 jobs for Florida residents

$110 million in tax credits would be required if all projects were certified *

* Note that the process of qualifying and certifying involves vetting all submitted project budgets and potentially disqualifying some items that are ineligible for the program. Some projects may also opt to be partially certified and placed in the queue for next year's credits.

The final qualification and certification totals will be available after current year's tax credits are certified.

Dates To Remember:
May 21:  The new program application, guidelines, and FAQs will be available online at http://filminflorida.com/
June 7: Applications will be accepted on a first come, first served basis beginning noon EST.
July 1: First day of certification for the new fiscal year (July 1, 2010 - June 30, 2011)

Entertainment Industry and Incentives

Qualified productions during fiscal year 2010  began July 1, 2009.  A cash rebate of between 15%  and 22%  of  Florida qualified expenditures can be received, up to a maximum of $2,000,000, when spending a minimum of $850,000 in Florida on Florida cast, crew, businesses and vendors.  Details on the incentive program can be found online at http://www.filminflorida.com/.

We feel an important supplement to financial incentives for film and television production in Broward is the service we provide to make sure you bring your project in - on time and within budget.

Broward has three Film Commissions to support filming:

• Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward Film Commission (County)
       954-767-2467

• Fort Lauderdale Film Commission (City)
       954-828-6359

• Hollywood Film Commission (City)
       954-921-3648

In addition, the Broward office works with a designated film liaison in every municipality so filmmakers have a resource for service in cities throughout Broward County. Our office issues permits for 23 cities in Broward through a "one-stop" film permitting process. For any questions on the community, accommodations, permitting, or resources contact our office at 954-767-2467. We will provide crew lists, location assistance, trouble shooting for the length of the project and business relocation assistance. Our number one priority is to promptly help you find what you need in the South Florida region.