Louisiana’s thriving film industry may have planted a Jurassic-size footprint in New Orleans—and in Baton Rouge, though to a lesser extent—but there are smaller pockets of marquee success throughout the state.
Whether it be Duck Dynasty in West Monroe, the Oscar and Emmy winning Moonbot Studios in Shreveport, the 2009 filming of Secretariat in Acadiana or Cajun Pawn Stars in Alexandria, tributaries of the industry have spread from the epicenter, as The News Star reports.
So while the outcry against a bill trimming the tax credits from which the industry was born are the loudest from New Orleans lawmakers and filmmakers, the pleas for a veto from Gov. Bobby Jindal are coming from other markets as well.
“(The tax credit program) is one of the reasons we have the TV show, especially initially,” says “Duck Dynasty” star Willie Robertson. “And it’s one of the reasons production companies are looking for other interesting stories in Louisiana.”
But the program is expensive, perhaps costing the state as much as $250 million a year, and the bill capping the program at $180 million was among 10 tax bills the Legislature passed to avoid devastating cuts to higher education and health care.
“Look, the state is definitely spending more on the program than the return on investment,” says Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, who authored the bill and is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. “I support the industry, but not at the expense of the (University of Louisiana at Lafayette) or other universities.”
Jindal is traveling out of state as part of his presumed presidential campaign, but spokesman Mike Reed told The News Star on Tuesday that the administration is “reviewing the bill and listening to the industry’s concerns.”
“The Legislature put together a revenue neutral package, and this bill is part of that package,” Reed says in an email to the Monroe newspaper.
