film

Imagine you’ve been given the task to argue that an industry needs government support to survive. How do you think you’d make that case? Would you: Start by calling the…

Since 2005, North Carolina has provided over $404 million in subsidies (tax credits and grant payments) to film production companies. The thinking is that incentivizing film productions grows an industry,…

A bill filed in the General Assembly would bring back North Carolina’s unaccountable film tax incentives. The incentives had sunset in 2014 and been replaced by a grant program, which…

Have you ever seen the movie “Dave”? It’s a warm-hearted little comedy from 1993 about a man (Dave, played by Kevin Kline) who runs a temporary employment agency and has…

Time Magazine’s Aug. 6 special issue focuses on the American South. One of the articles is about Georgia’s film production incentives, entitled “How Georgia Became the Hollywood of the…

New research from Kennesaw State University economist John Charles Bradbury finds “little evidence” that movie production incentives help state economies. Bradbury’s research finds that film incentives help film production…

The proposed new state budget would not expand the state’s overall film grant program this year. That’s the good news. The bad news is, the new state budget…

Once a popular off-Hollywood venue for filmmakers before state film tax incentives, North Carolina is now one of the leaders in a race to the bottom among other states and nations in giveaways to movie production companies. The incentives show that state leaders know that lower taxes and regulations attract industry. So why play favorites with industries? Why not just lower taxes and regulations altogether?

Click here to view and here to listen to Jon Sanders discussing the first two reports in the Carolina Cronyism series. RALEIGH — Less than a month after…

RALEIGH — North Carolina’s money-losing tax credit for film production would hit taxpayers’ wallets even harder if it’s expanded this year. That’s the conclusion of a new John Locke Foundation…