Outcomes

What do you want your incentive program to achieve? Here are some examples of the kinds of outcomes you could consider; obviously every jurisdiction is going to have slightly different objectives.

• The production must bring new dollars in, thus adding to the economic base.
• The production must create local jobs – a set percentage of crew should be sourced locally
• The production must pay higher-than-average wages in the area thus contributing to raising the standard-of-living
• Productions in poor neighborhoods and/or rural areas get better incentives
• Skills transfer and training.
• A set percentage of the unit production budget must be spent in the area.
• Incentives offered to out-of-state (or country) productions must also be available to existing local businesses, ensuring fairness in the availability of incentives.
• Priority given to productions with local storylines in order to capitalize on tourism potential
• Certain categories of production only? (for example, few incentive programs support television commercial production)
• The incentives must produce a positive return on investment as determined by economic modeling formulas
• Who pays for the administration costs?
• Prevent films being made as tax avoidance shelters? Prove that the Film’s Copyright is active, and/or it is being exhibited commercially (within 2 years of the end of the income year in which capital monies were first spent to produce the film or contributed to the cost of producing the film)
• Cultural objectives? Incentives allow for the promotion and distribution of local stories around the world
• Clawback provisions in case of default?