State increases incentives for filmmakers

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

By Matthew Irwin

Jackson Hole, Wyo.-Wyoming hopes to attract more filmmakers, and their money, with an enhanced film industry incentives bill, signed by Governor Dave Freudenthal, Friday. The program has the potential to boost local economies through temporary jobs and peripheral spending at local businesses, a state official said.

According to House Bill 71, filmmakers who spend at least $200,000 on production in Wyoming will be eligible for a 15-percent reimbursement from the State. Previously, producers would have to spend at least $500,000 to qualify.
Local filmmaker Peter Pilafian, who is making a documentary about the construction of the new Aerial Tram at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, said that the revised incentives program is a must for the state.

“Now-a-days, film productions are always looking for incentives because so many states offer, and Canada,” Pilafian said. “With the kind of productions I do, the budgets are usually in the $200,000 to $500,000 range. The previous limit excluded a lot of mainstream, particularly documentaries and other nonfiction programming.”

Though Piliafian’s Tram documentary does meet the spending threshold, he is not sure yet if the project, filmed before the new program was enacted, will qualify.
Some local film companies, however, will not qualify, because they operate on much lower budgets, such as Storm Show Studios, with an annual budget less than $10,000, according to founder, Darrell Miller.

Film producers may boost local economies in Wyoming by hiring locally and spending money at local eateries and other businesses, according to Michelle Howard, director of the state-run Wyoming Film Office, which oversees the incentive program. The office has already held classes in Casper and Jackson to train grips, electricians and other support staff it predicts filmmakers will want.

Wyoming’s original film incentives program, enacted in 2007, came as a result of losing films with Wyoming settings, such as Flicka and Brokeback Mountain, to other states and Canada, which already had incentives for filmmakers, Howard said. That program required filmmakers to spend $500,000, but were never used because the rules and regulations were completed only recently.

“In the last two years, we have seen an increase in project inquires [for the reimbursement program], especially lower budget films – indie films and documentaries,”  Howard said. “A number of projects said that they can’t reach the [$500,000] mark.”

The $200,000 threshold, Howard said, is based on what the film office thought would be the minimum amount of spending to benefit host communities. PJH
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