Associated Press
Monday, September 20, 2010
Above, Clearwater Marine Aquarium CEO David Yates announces that Dolphin Tale, the story of Winter, will be filmed this fall. At left, Matt Passmore gets a touchup as he plays Jim Longworth during the filming of The Glades in Pompano Beach in June.
MIAMI — From Flipper to Miami Vice, from The Yearling to Bad Boys II, Florida has a long history in film and television. But companies have been increasingly looking elsewhere over the past decade, drawn by states that offer generous incentive programs.
Florida is now ready to compete with its own tax credit program that both business leaders and public officials believe will help the state rebuild one of its legacy industries.
Approved by the Florida Legislature this past spring, the new program began July 1. It provides $242 million in transferable tax credits over the next five years, with $53.5 million in credits available in the first year. Production companies will be eligible to receive tax credits for 20 percent of the money they spend in Florida. The program offers an extra 5 percent for family-friendly projects and another 5 percent for projects filmed during hurricane season.
Besides movies and TV shows, other projects eligible for the program include documentaries, digital media projects, commercials and music videos.
"It's truly game-changing for the state of Florida," Film Florida president Jennifer Pennypacker said. "The scary thing is not just what we were losing. To me, the scary thing is what we weren't even considered for. We weren't even getting the call and having the chance to lose it."
The move is already starting to pay dividends. On Monday, officials announced the creation of a $30 million full-service TV and film production studio in Sarasota designed to lure more projects to Florida and nurture local production talent. Studio chief executive Ken Sanborn said the new state program enabled him to put the project "on the front burner."
"The film incentive is critical," he said at a news conference. "It's really going to make a huge difference for Florida."
Andrew Kosove, co-founder and co-CEO of Alcon Entertainment, said he probably wouldn't have been able to film his next movie in Florida without the tax credit. Alcon is scheduled to shoot Dolphin Tale — based on the true story of Winter the dolphin, which lost her tail after an injury and had it replaced with a prosthetic — in the Tampa Bay area this fall for 10 weeks.
"In order for Florida to compete effectively against Georgia or Louisiana or other states that have these programs, they need to have this program in place, and they need to stick with it for the long term," Kosove said. "If they do, Florida will become a major location for film production for years."
The Florida film industry exploded in the 1990s, but shortly after the start of the new millennium, other states began paying studios as much as 30 percent back in tax credits for what they spent in the states.
Florida began its own program in 2004, but it was a cash incentive with relativity little funding. The first year's total allocation was about $2.45 million. The program peeked in 2007 with $25 million and has decreased every year since.
"In the meantime, our nearby competitors in Georgia and Louisiana were destroying us," said Graham Winick, the city of Miami Beach's film coordinator and a past president of Film Florida. "They were decimating our work base, and they were taking projects that were scripted for us."
The pilot episode of The Glades, a crime drama that began airing this summer, was filmed largely in Georgia, before Florida's incentive program was approved. Production has since moved to Broward County.
The key to growing and expanding Florida's incentive, from a political perspective, was to switch from a straight rebate to a tax credit program, Winick said. The tax credits are basically like gift cards that can be spent only at the Florida Department of Revenue.
While a production company with no Florida tax liability could take a cash rebate and spend it anywhere, tax credits can never leave the state, making them much more popular with lawmakers, Winick said.
According to state records, the credits allocated this year are already estimated to bring in nearly $419 million to the Florida economy, creating more than 38,000 jobs.