Production Weekly announced yesterday that Fantastic Four, Terminator 4, and Jurassic World would be filming this upcoming year in Louisiana. Naturally, people are curious as to why they aren’t filming in Hollywood or New York. The answer: Money
Surprisingly a lot of movies are not made in L.A. or New York. This is because it is too expensive to film in the cities, and studios try to pinch every penny they can. That is why a lot of movies are filmed elsewhere. One of the hotbeds for filming in recent years is Louisiana. Blockbusters such as GI Joe Retaliation, 21 Jump Street, Now You See Me, and Abe Lincoln: Vampire Hunter have been shot in the bayou state. Also, to understand business, you must remember one important economic concept: Everybody responds to incentives. Louisiana offers nice incentives, some of the best in the entertainment business, such as big cities, the bayou, and several sound stages and post production houses. These are great incentives, however, the greatest incentive Louisiana offers is that of a 30% tax credit, an additional 5% tax credit for payroll expenditures to Louisiana residents, no cap, and tax credits may be used to offset income tax liability in Louisiana (corporate or personal), sold back to the state for 85% face value, or brokered on the open market.**
As you can see Louisiana is one of the best places to shoot because not only do studios save a large amount of money, but Louisiana offers state of the art facilities and shooting locations.
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** Information obtained by Louisiana Entertainment.gov
