Governor Sanford signs tv, movie incentives

With the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Yorktown as his stage, Gov. Mark Sanford on Monday signed into law a measure that will provide more tax breaks to production companies that film movies, commercials and TV shows in the Palmetto State.

Surrounded by dozens of South Carolina film workers who have said for months the measure was vital to their livelihoods, Sanford emphasized the benefits to the state’s economy of a bill that sacrifices millions of dollars in tax revenue in hopes of winning productions away from states that have dangled similar economic enticements for years.

“It’s an embryonic industry, but one with great potential,” Sanford said. “There is no pollution, no infrastructure. People come in, they spend the money and they leave. I love that kind of industry.”

The South Carolina Film Commission estimates that a third of a film’s budget is spent on location and the average wage for film-production jobs is more than $20 an hour.

Under the new law, major productions will be exempt from local and state sales and use taxes. They also will receive a 15 percent rebate on spending in South Carolina, with a cap of about $7.7 million, and a 15 percent rebate on taxable wages, with a cap at $10 million.

Ken French, a founder of the Carolina Film Alliance trade group, said the incentives will support about three big productions a year, roughly $115 million in movie or television projects. One of the first in line for the rebates is “Walker,” a feature film with a $35 million budget and starring Sam Shepard and Jason Patric. “Walker” will start filming in Rock Hill this week. Most of the economic breaks in the new law will kick in at the start of the state’s fiscal year in July.

Sylvia Jefferies, an actress and Charleston native whose credits include the TV show “One Tree Hill” and the movie “The Notebook,” was one of the industry professionals on hand to thank Sanford and other lawmakers Monday. She moved to New Orleans last month because she wasn’t getting enough auditions in South Carolina.

“This is huge. It’s going to make all the difference,” Jefferies explained. “I’ve got a lease until October, but I’ll break it tomorrow if I get a chance to come back.”

The incentives Sanford signed into law Monday triple some rebates lawmakers put on the books last August. Other states rushed to match those proposals and South Carolina quickly lost its competitive edge.

Jeff Monks, director of the state’s Film Office, said South Carolina’s new bait is one of the most attractive and simple incentive packages in the country. Louisiana, Nevada and New Mexico have bigger incentives, but in many cases they have more strings attached.

“We’ll be near the top,” Monks said. “It will be very welcome in L.A.”

Hollywood production has stayed at about 500 movies a year for decades. But since South Carolina opened its film office in 1980, the number of places that court location scouts has surged 12-fold. In recent years, dollars have often trumped scenery and talent with regard to site selection. For instance, almost all of “Cold Mountain,” a film depicting the Civil War, was shot in Romania. Canada is another hotbed of “runaway production.”

The incentive race is continuing, however. Georgia just passed a package of tax credits, and North Carolina lawmakers are weighing a proposal very similar to South Carolina’s. Part of the Tar Heel State’s rush is to keep a major television series from migrating to the Palmetto State.

Sanford and other lawmakers pledged that the latest incentives are a “first step to further efforts.”

Hollywood, however, has already gotten wind of the bill that was flapping in the breeze on the Yorktown on Monday.

“Word is spreading,” said Dan Rogers, senior manager at the state Film Commission. “I’ve had more scripts on my desk in the past few months than I’ve had at any time in my 17 years here.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA, TAXES

The bill passed by the Legislature this year and signed Monday by Gov. Mark Sanford offers millions of dollars in tax incentives to lure film and TV productions to South Carolina. Here’s a look at some of its provisions:

— Provides exemptions from local and state sales and use taxes for
productions that will spend more than $250,000

— Offers a 15 percent rebate on taxable wages for productions that spend
more than $1 million in state (capped at $10 million a year)

— Provides a 15 percent rebate on all in-state expenditures for productions
that spend more than $1 million (capped at about $7.7 million a year)

— Redirects 26 percent of state admission taxes, about $7.7 million last year,
to the state’s film commission

— Requires the South Carolina Film Commission to compile an annual report
on its spending

— Permits productions to film on state property free of charge for up to a week at a time or three weeks a year

— Requires that the state and its film incentives be acknowledged in the
credits of any productions that benefit from the legislation