JEFFERSON CITY – More movie and television productions could be coming to Missouri under a bill that’s headed to Gov. Mike Parson’s desk for approval.
Senate bill 94, otherwise known as the “Show MO Act,” establishes tax credits for the production of certain entertainment.
According to the bill, the act reauthorizes a tax credit for certain expenses related to the production of qualified motion media production projects in Missouri. The state used to have tax credits for the film and TV production industry, but that law expired in November 2013.
Meredith Corrado is a producer with the Stephens Film Institute (SFI), which is part of Stephens College. Corrado started her film and television career in 2004 in Chicago and spent many years working at major studios in Los Angeles.
Because Missouri lost the tax credit back in 2013, Corrado said she knows multiple people who work in the entertainment industry and have moved to states like Iowa and Illinois, which have tax incentives.
“Actually a lot of the folks in St. Louis said they were ducking across the border to Illinois because we [Missouri] did not have a film incentive,” Corrado said.
Corrado believes reestablishing the tax incentive in Missouri is a big deal for the industry.
“I’m glad Missouri is trying to play with the big boys,” Corrado said.
The new tax incentive is not the same as the one that expired in 2013. This time, instead of a couple million dollars, the state set the cap at $16 million.
Cole Payne, a film producer based out of Russellville, worked with Missouri lawmakers on the bill this session and testified in front of the House and Senate.
Payne said the previous tax incentive was too small.
“It never gave the industry the chance to establish itself,” he said.
The new tax credit is designed specifically for Missouri and uses elements that are similar to states with strong tax incentives for films and TV.
“It is a credit that is given out after the film or television production comes to Missouri [and] spends all their money. The money is audited and then it’s a credit that is given out,” Payne said. “So for millions of cash dollars that will be potentially spent in Missouri, we are basically giving someone a tax break.”
The application process is first come, first serve. The production has to prove they have their funding in place and must spend at least $150,000. Short films would require less money, and there is a $16 million cap on the tax credits the state can give out.
“These productions don’t get anything until they spend the money in the state,” Payne said. “That money is audited by a private CPA then it goes to the state for a second audit and then the tax credit is issued. It is not a check. Your tax dollars are not funding this, you’re just getting more money injected into your state.”
Lizzie Germann, a local film director, writer and assistant professor of digital filmmaking at Stephens College, says the tax incentive is a win for the film industry and local filmmakers.
This week in Columbia, students in SFI teamed up with Corrado, Germann and a number of other film professionals to shoot a short film. Germann says projects like this get students on sets to begin their filmmaking careers early.
“There are just hundreds of things that you can’t learn without actually touching the equipment, and this is their opportunity to do that,” Germann said.
Local film productions like SFI’s short film, “Thicker Than,” also bring money back into the city.
“This project alone has put so much into the local economy, it strengthens the community,” Germann said.
Dalaya Johnson, a sophomore at Stephens College studying digital filmmaking, works on the set from the short film “Thicker Than.” She says the educational experience is very beneficial.
“We have the opportunity to sit here and make mistakes and do it until we get it right versus going out into the real world you might not have those opportunities,” Johnson said.
Kennedy Brown, a senior at Stephens College, has been an assistant producer and director on previous senior films. She said she thinks the tax incentive will be great for Missouri’s film industry.
“I think it will be amazing for filmmakers from Stephens College who have gotten such a great opportunity through SFI, to be able to do it when they graduate and have more opportunities in commercial fields and in television series and feature films hopefully that want to film here,” Brown said.
For more information about the short film “Thicker Than” and the Stephens Film Institute, visit their website.
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