MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin filmmakers and state lawmakers want to encourage production studios to shoot their movies and TV shows in Wisconsin.
A bill in the state Legislature would create a state film office and offer up to $10 million a year in tax incentives for TV shows and movies that film in Wisconsin and hire crews here. Wisconsin is currently one of just 13 states that don’t offer tax incentives to film and TV production companies, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
“We’re at the point now where we’re one of the last holdouts – and not in a good way. This is not a place that we want to be behind,” filmmaker and UW-Madison film professor Aaron Greer said.
WATCH: State lawmakers want to bring more TV, film productions to Wisconsin
Greer shot his last feature film in Chicago, where the production was eligible for a 30% tax incentive and an Illinois film office helped to find locations and obtain permits.
“We had something like $250,000 in cash and were able to make closer to a $300,000 movie because of the 30% tax incentives in Illinois,” he said.
Under the bill in Wisconsin, the state would offer a 30% tax credit for the cost of production and for salaries paid to crew members who are Wisconsin residents. A similar bill proposing a 25% tax credit failed in the last legislative session.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers included a 25% tax credit in his budget proposal earlier this year.
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“I think all sides can come together and just – let’s promote the state,” Republican Rep. Dave Armstrong, the bill’s author, said. “You’re gonna have the stars coming in, the production cast coming in, and they spend a lot of money. And that’s where you see the multiples of what the cost is of the credit.”
Some states, like Georgia, have reported high returns on their investments in film production tax cuts – as high as $6 returned on every dollar invested. In other states, such as Pennsylvania, reports have found that tax incentives had little benefit.
Greer sees the incentives as the first step toward building a film industry in Wisconsin. Currently, he said, it’s difficult to encourage his film students to remain in the state when there are so few jobs available in their field.
“There’s lots of people who would love to stay here, and want to actively stay here, but have difficulty finding enough work to sustain their life or launch an early career,” Greer said.
Greer is also working on another film of his own, set in Madison.
“I want to shoot it here, and I want it to be easy to shoot here, and I want to have my budget go a little further and all those things,” he said.
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