Last year, New York state expanded its film tax credit to $700 million a year. The hope was that filmmakers would opt to make their movies here in New York rather than in Los Angeles or Vancouver or Atlanta.
The problem is that the film tax credit is paid for with taxpayer money, and several studies have come out showing that the return on this kind of investment isn’t that good. One consulting group the state paid to figure out whether the tax credit was worth it said that it is "at best a break-even proposition and more likely a net cost for the state.”
As the annual Capital Region and Adirondack Film Alliance Day gets underway in Albany, Capital Tonight spoke with two film industry supporters — Tim Clark, film commissioner at the Buffalo Niagara Film Office, and Eric Vinal, vice president of film, TV and entertainment at Visit Syracuse.