Crafty Apes, a national video production and visual effects company, has announced it’s expanding to Baton Rouge this year, taking over space at the Celtic Media Centre off Airline Highway.
Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the expansion today, saying the company plans to initially create a minimum of six new jobs, with an annual average salary of $116,500, under the state’s Entertainment Job Creation Program.
Louisiana Economic Development estimates those six initial jobs will prompt eight new indirect jobs. Crafty Apes expects to increase its Baton Rouge employee base to 20 permanent jobs within six months, co-founder Chris LeDoux said in the announcement.
Crafty Apes is known for its visual effects in Jumanji: The Next Level, Little Women, Stranger Things and Star Trek: Picard. The company has already begun hiring visual effects specialists for projects in the state.
“By choosing Baton Rouge for our newest studio, we are able to better serve clients in the Louisiana market on their film and television projects, utilize a great tax credit, and hire visual effects professionals from a high-level pool of local talent,” LeDoux said in a statement. “We felt it was imperative to build around the best local talent to assist in creating a bustling post industry in the state.”
LeDoux says the new Baton Rouge office will be led by head of production Sam Claitor and visual effects supervisor Kolby Kember. Both are Louisiana locals and have a track record in the state’s film community.
Crafty Apes has other offices in Hollywood and Atlanta and operates studios in New York, New Mexico and Canada.
The Entertainment Job Creation Program was created to attract entertainment jobs to the state by offering a W2 tax credit to approved companies, including a 15% credit for each new job with payrolls between $45,00 and $66,000 per year, and a 20% credit for jobs with an annual payroll between $66,000 and $200,000.
Last year, five companies joined the program, committing to create 111 new jobs, the governor’s office says.
