New England Public Policy Center Policy Brief No. 06-3
by Darcy Rollins Saas

Full-text paper

Five of the six New England states provide tax credits or other financial incentives to attract producers of movies, television shows, commercials, and other projects to film on location. This brief focuses on the use of one major incentive: film tax credits, and discusses whether this incentive attracts more production, and whether it is cost-effective in creating jobs. From the little evidence available, the brief concludes that film tax credits do attract film production and create jobs in states that have little or no film industry. However, it also finds that these credits cost the states considerable foregone tax revenue while the resulting stimulus to overall economic activity is rather modest.