Topeka – Cinema and television production professionals hope that it is the year when the incentives become the law so that Kansas can attract talent to develop the local media industry.
Kansas is part of a small handful of states without incitement to film production, which, according to industry professionals, is a missed opportunity for an economic boost.
A Film Production Tax Incentive Bill Made It Through the 2024 legislative session, passing the house with a 102-22 vote and the senate with a 32-5 vote, but it was caught in gov. Laura Kelly’s Blanket Veto of A Package of Tax Break Bills. The legislator first examined an incentive bill in 2022.
This year, Senate bill 52 has collected the support of tourist and economic development groups of the State, the State Department of Commerce and professionals in the native Kansan cinema.
“Kansas does not facilitate its young creatives to stay here. We do not want to be firmly for the leak of creative brains by actively telling our children that it is better to go away, “said Kristin” Kiki “Bush, a actor From Rural Kansas, during a February 4 audience for the bill.
“Without incentives, they will probably do,” she added.
The bill would create the Kansas Film and Digital Media Production and Media Development Program within the Kansas Department of Commerce. It is based on a similar tax credit used in 40 other states, according to Stuart Little, a Lobbyist from Grow Kansas Film, a coalition of cinema professionals.
“You enter and spend money for production in a state,” said Little. “You make qualified expenses. You follow the rules. You get an audit. You are done. You can receive 30% of a tax credit. »»
The program would offer up to 10 million dollars in tax credits per year for eligible cinematographic, video or digital media companies, with the warning that at least 10% of approved credits each year are production companies based in kansas. Productions must meet certain criteria in order to receive a production income tax credit of 30% or post-production.
The amount of tax credits may increase if a project is a multi-film agreement, a television series, a large budget production or if it contributes to the Kansas cinematographic production infrastructure or the workforce. Credit can also increase if at least half a production team is Kansas residents or if a company has already participated in the program.
Investments in production facilities at the Wichita State University and Kansas State University-Salina and in a Center for the Preservation and Restoration of 50 Acres of 50 Acres in Hutchinson indicate a booming cinema company, according to professionals ‘Industry defending the bill.
“It is in some ways an artistic problem, an entertainment problem,” said Little. “It’s a commercial problem.”
For filmmakers, actors and investors supporting the bill, all problems are one.
Bush, the actor, added: “I believe that our landscapes and the stories of our people are enough to compete with other states – that our stories are enough to film.”