A state law that took effect this week expands incentives for the television and film industry by increasing the 10 percent tax credit for post production to 30 percent in the New York metropolitan region (New York City, Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Dutchess, Orange, Nassau and Suffolk counties) and to 35 percent for other parts of New York. The reason for a higher incentive upstate is to encourage investment in and construction of new facilities, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who signed the law this week.
Cuomo said the post-production incentive program has been underutilized, with only 19 applications in the two years since it was established. Post production includes editing done after filming has been completed. It includes visual effects, sound editing and mixing and other tasks necessary to complete the film.
“New York State’s program of incentives to attract film and television productions to New York has been a tremendous success, generating billions of dollars in economic impact and supporting hundreds of thousands of hires,” Cuomo said in a statement. “However, there is potential for this industry to make new investments in communities across the state and in doing so, help make New York the television and film capital of the world.”
The state started to offer tax credits for the film and television industry in 2004. Since then, producers have spent more than $7 billion in the state, the governor said. The program is worth $420 million each year, which includes $7 million for post-production credits. The industry has hired more than 522,000 people in the past eight years.
The program has received 727 applications for tax credits. Of those, 473 have been completed or received credit so far. The total credit issued to date for completed projects is $1.04 billion. The state received 135 applications in 2011, and the producers are expected to spend $1.5 billion. New York has received 88 applications so far this year, with spending projections of $1.46 billion.
“Signing into law this incentive will have a tremendous impact on my group of companies as well as dozens of other post production facilities throughout the state,” said Marcelo Gandola, senior vice president of creative services at Deluxe and president of the Post New York Alliance. “With the Governor’s signing of this bill into law, the growth opportunity for the post production industry has been accelerated. Our companies will now be able to expand our educational efforts to create a job-ready workforce to service our industry’s expansion.”
Yana Collins Lehman, managing director of the post-production accounting firm Trevanna Post, said in a statement that the expanded credit will “make New York a front runner in the very competitive post production film and TV landscape.”
