CLEVELAND – Today, the Greater Cleveland Film Commission (GCFC) praised Governor Ted Strickland and the members of the Ohio General Assembly for their efforts to create new jobs in Ohio’s film industry through the inclusion of the Ohio Film Production Incentive in Ohio’s biennial budget bill.

“The Governor and General Assembly have done more than just close a budget deficit with this bill – they have opened opportunities for Ohioans to build new careers in an energized film industry,” said Dan McMullen, chair of the GCFC Board of Directors.

The budget bill allocates $10 million in Fiscal Year 2010 and $20 million in Fiscal Year 2011 to provide tax credits to film, television and other media productions in Ohio.  Through the Film Production Incentive, film productions that spend at least $300,000 in Ohio would receive a tax credit of 25% of its Ohio expenditures, up to a maximum of $5 million per production.  To take full advantage of the Film Production Incentive, Ohio’s film industry will need to spend $120 million on film production in Ohio during the next two years, $40 million in FY2010 and $80 million in FY2011.

“This is a program we can work with to begin building a much stronger film industry in Ohio,” said GCFC Executive Director Ivan Schwarz.  “With film production jobs paying between 20% to 30% above the statewide average, this is a great investment in Ohio jobs.”

In FY2010, the Ohio Film Production Incentive could, for example, support five $8 million film projects, which would create nearly 400 FTE jobs.  With the available tax credit doubling in FY2011, ten $8 million film projects would create approximately  800 FTE jobs.

Film production also has a high economic output multiplier.  A good portion of every film budget is spent purchasing goods and services from local vendors of such things as lumber, paint, rental cars and hotels.  A dollar spent in film production generates more statewide economic activity than the same dollar spent in three-quarters of other industries.  In Ohio’s current film industry, economists calculate that every dollar spent will generate approximately $1.50 in economic activity and that this 1.5 multiplier will increase as Ohio’s film industry matures and attracts businesses that currently do not exist in the state but will move here to take advantage of regular productions.  If the Ohio Film Production Incentive is fully utilized during the next two years, Ohio’s $30 million investment in film production will generate an estimated $180 million in economic activity.

“We are grateful to Governor Ted Strickland, Lt. Governor Lee Fisher, Senate President Bill Harris, House Speaker Armond Budish, and, State Senator Tom Patton, State Senator Tom Niehaus, Senate Minority Leader Capri Cafaro, House Minority Leader Bill Batchelder, State Representative Mark Schneider, State Representative Matt Patten , and State Representative Matthew Dolan for their leadership and effort.  We also appreciate the hard work of a broad coalition of labor, business and community organizations and leaders that worked for several years to help pass this groundbreaking  initiative” McMullen added.

For more information about the film tax credit, and/or to submit an application, click here.

For exciting job opportunities click here