In response to the downturn in Louisiana’s film industry, people active in the state’s film industry have launched a short film and campaign aimed to improve business.
As WDSU-TV reports, organizers of the “Keep Film in Louisiana” campaign hope the short film will start a conversation about what Louisiana still has to offer the film industry in light of lawmakers capping film tax credits last year and downturn in the industry.
Filmmaker Victoria Greene says fears and a lot of preconceived notions came along with changes the state made to its tax credit program.
“It’s not so much that the cap is detrimental to the program, it’s the perception. It’s the communication. Producers, whether they’re local or they’re from out of town, they need to understand our program much better,” says Greene, executive director of the “Keep Film in Louisiana.”
Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson told the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee Monday that the state’s film industry has contracted 80% since the Legislature capped credits last year, as reported by The News Star.
Ben Mathney, director of “Keep Film in Louisiana,” says other states don’t have the infrastructure—such as universities with film program students who can enter the workforce—or the studios that Louisiana does.
“Film is one of America’s strongest exports, so I think it’s a really exciting opportunity for Louisiana to diversity their portfolio and for Louisiana to have a totally sustainable export that nowhere else in the nation can compete with,” Mathney says.
