Join the Crew
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Tom is a filmmaker, producer, and marketing specialist based in Los Angeles.
At Wrapbook, we pride ourselves on providing outstanding free resources to producers and their crews, but this post is for informational purposes only as of the date above. The content on our website is not intended to provide and should not be relied on for legal, accounting, or tax advice. You should consult with your own legal, accounting, or tax advisors to determine how this general information may apply to your specific circumstances.
While many incentive updates have been signed into law and made official (those above), a few proposed changes are still working their way through state legislatures.
The items below are all proposals, not enacted changes. None of these are official yet. If these bills pass, however, they will meaningfully alter specific incentive programs, so they're worth watching.
California lawmakers and film officials are weighing several changes to boost Golden State production following the state's landmark Program 4.0.
AB2319 would create a standalone post-production tax credit, a refundable credit for qualified post-production expenses, with additional bonuses for work completed outside the Los Angeles 30-mile zone and for music scoring.
Separately, California's $5 million-per-year corporate credit claim cap has been extended, and lawmakers are working with the Governor's office to carve out an exemption for film tax credit claims.
Finally, California's Film Tax Credit Program 4.0 is currently operating under emergency regulations, with the California Film Commission expected to finalize permanent rules through a public comment period this fall.
The domestic incentive landscape is moving fast.
New programs, enhanced credits, and expanded local rebates are creating real opportunities for productions of all sizes, from Delaware's brand-new 30% transferable credit and Hawaii's enhanced program to Illinois's record-setting expansion and a growing roster of city and county rebates.
To stay current on every program, track new legislation, and compare incentives for your next project, visit our Production Incentive Center. And for a deeper look at how individual state programs work, explore Wrapbook's state-by-state guide to film industry tax incentives.
Blink this year and you might have missed a brand new state film incentive. Or three.
2026 has been a banner year for domestic production incentives. Delaware, Iowa, and Wisconsin all stood-up new programs. Illinois and Hawaii turbocharged the ones they already had. And a growing roster of cities rolled out rebates to lure productions to their streets.
Now that most statehouses have gaveled out for the year, producers can get a clear view of all the new ways to stretch a production budget, from Hartford to Honolulu.
In this article, we're rounding up every major production incentive update of 2026 so far, plus the proposals still worth watching. Let's dig in.
A lot has happened across the U.S. production incentives landscape in 2026.
The updates below reflect official changes to production incentive programs across the country as of August 2026. Because program guidelines, funding availability, and pending legislation can shift quickly, producers should always confirm the most current details directly with the relevant film office or state agency before applying.
Alabama is expanding access for smaller productions.
In April, Governor Kay Ivey signed HB379, which amends the state's Entertainment Industry Incentive Act of 2009. Effective October 1, 2026, the bill creates an additional incentive for small-budget qualified productions, offering a 45% rebate on payroll paid to Alabama residents for productions with total expenditures between $100,000 and $499,999. The new program is funded at $2 million annually.
The bill also reduces the minimum expenditure threshold for soundtrack and music video productions from $50,000 to $30,000, with an adjusted rebate cap for those project types.
Beginning October 1, 2026, companies must also withhold tax from loan-out companies at the state's highest rate.
Across California, several local incentive programs have been updated in 2026.
In February, Mayor Daniel Lurie and the San Francisco Film Commission updated the city's long-running film incentive.
Qualified productions can now receive a 10% rebate on production-related goods and services purchased or rented from San Francisco businesses on the first $1 million spent, and a 20% rebate on anything spent above $1 million. Productions can also qualify for a 100% rebate on eligible costs paid directly to San Francisco City departments, including permits, police services, and use of city property.
San Francisco's rebate can be combined with California's state film tax credit to maximize savings.
In July 2026, Santa Clarita expanded its Film Incentive Program (FIP) to cover additional formats, including internet and web productions, reality TV, home improvement shows, and competition shows.
The updated program also lowers the qualifying permit threshold for recurring productions to three permits, down from four.
In April, FilmLA launched a new Low Impact Permit Pilot Program, reducing city permit fees for small productions.
Qualifying productions must have fewer than 30 cast and crew members, shoot for a maximum of three consecutive days, and use no more than three locations. For those that qualify, application fees drop from $931 to $350 and notification fees drop from $250 to $156 per location. L.A. Fire Department spot check fees of $285 are also waived.
In June 2026, the Oakland City Council funded a new city film incentive, allocating $750,000 from the city budget to a cash rebate program for production.
The program offers a 10% cash rebate on qualified local production expenditures for productions that spend at least $250,000 in the city. It is administered by Oakland's Economic and Workforce Development Department.
Connecticut has created a new incentive fund aimed at boosting production in its three largest cities.
The added incentive provides transferable credits ranging from 30% to 50% of eligible Connecticut expenses for productions that film in Bridgeport, Hartford, or New Haven.
Under Connecticut's Digital Media and Motion Picture Tax Credit program, qualifying productions can earn:
The new fund carries a total cap of $1.5 million and is slated to run during the 2027 and 2028 tax years, beginning July 1, 2027.
Delaware, long one of the few states without a permanent film incentive, now has one.
The state's new Delaware Entertainment Production Tax Credit (DEPTC) took effect July 1, 2026, offering a 30% transferable tax credit on qualified in-state expenditures.
Administered by the Delaware Division of Small Business, the program is open to film, television, commercial, music video, video game, and esports productions. To qualify, a production must spend more than $100,000 in the state within a 12-month period.
Annual funding is capped at $10 million, and unused credits can be carried forward for up to five years or sold and transferred. Productions must also provide local internship opportunities for Delaware residents and submit an independent expenditure audit.
Applications are expected to open soon. Producers should contact the Delaware Division of Small Business for the latest details.
Georgia reinstated its Postproduction Company Film Tax Credit in January, restoring a 20% base credit for post-production companies that conduct qualifying work in the Peach State.
The Postproduction Company Film Tax Credit has $10 million in annual funding available for post-production companies that incur at least $500,000 in qualified post-production expenditures in Georgia during a taxable year.
The Savannah Regional Film Commission also expanded its rebate program in January, adding a new Tier 1 designed to attract independent productions.
The new tier offers a 10% rebate to productions that spend at least $500,000 in Chatham County and have an overall budget of at least $1 million. Rebates for productions that qualify at this tier are capped at $100,000 per project.
As before, film projects and television pilots spending over $1 million in Chatham County with overall budgets of at least $4 million (Tier 2), as well as qualified television series, can also qualify for Savannah's 10% rebate. The per-project cap is $175,000 for Tier 2 feature films and television pilots, and $300,000 per calendar year for television or internet-distributed episodic productions.
The Savannah Entertainment Production Incentive rebate is stackable with Georgia's state film tax credit.
On July 6, 2026, Hawaii Governor Josh Green signed SB2580 into law, delivering a major enhancement to Hawaii's refundable film tax credit.
The new law raises the per-project cap from $17 million to $20 million and increases the program's annual funding to $60 million, up from $50 million.
It also creates a 5% bonus for productions that hire at least 80% local workers, lifting the total credit to 27% for eligible projects on Oahu and 32% for spend incurred on the neighboring islands.
The law also restores Hawaii’s General Excise Tax (GET) exemption for third-party payroll companies. Effective July 6, 2025, GET now only applies to the payroll company’s handling fee, not the entire gross payroll invoice.
Per state guidance, compensation paid to a motion picture project worker may be claimed as qualified production costs to the extent they are reported as wages and subject to Hawaii income tax.
The law requires an independent third-party CPA audit for all productions and expands eligibility to include projects distributed on streaming platforms. Its sunset date is now January 1, 2038, giving productions long-term certainty when planning shoots on the islands.
Illinois made waves in December 2025 with the signing of SB1911, which made significant enhancements to the Illinois film tax credit program.
The update extended the state's film tax credit program until December 31, 2038 and raised the base transferable tax credit rate for Illinois resident labor and Illinois production spend from 30% to 35%.
For nonresident labor, the program now allows productions to include up to 13 qualifying nonresident crew members (up from nine), with a 30% base credit on labor for qualified nonresidents. Companies must now withhold tax from loan-outs at the current rate of 4.95%, and the bill also introduced a handful of new bonuses.
On Earth Day in April, Illinois provided additional guidance on the state's new 5% bonus for certified green productions. Productions certified through the Illinois Film Office must meet benchmarks for reducing waste, emissions, and energy use.
The update also added related-party transaction caps: above-the-line spending paid to related parties cannot exceed 12% of total production spend, and below-the-line related-party transactions are limited to fair market value.
Combined, Illinois can now offer credits of more than 55% for productions that maximize available bonuses. That's a big boost in a state that reported a record $703 million in film production spend in 2025, supporting an estimated 18,000 industry jobs on productions including The Bear, Chicago Fire, and The Chi.
For a full breakdown of Illinois's current incentive program, visit Wrapbook's guide to the Illinois film tax credit.
Iowa returned to the incentive landscape in January with a carefully structured two-year pilot program running through 2027.
The program offers a 30% cash rebate on qualified in-state production spending, with a $500,000 minimum spend and $4 million in funding. Third-party CPA review is required.
Applications for the Film Rebate program were accepted from February 2, 2026, through March 16, 2026, though the state noted the window could be shortened or extended depending on funding availability. This is Iowa's first incentive program since its original program was suspended in 2009.
Lawmakers in the Bluegrass State recently passed SB324, which will allow unused portions of Kentucky's $75 million annual film credit funding to carry forward into subsequent years rather than expiring.
The new law also expands the list of production types eligible for Kentucky's film tax credit to include video games, music videos, and commercials.
It sets the minimum spend requirement for commercials at $200,000 and raises the minimum spend requirement for Kentucky-based companies to $200,000. Companies not based in Kentucky producing a feature, television program, music video, or video game must spend $400,000 in the state for those projects to qualify.
Qualified labor now also includes expenses such as payroll fringes, which were previously excluded. Producers are advised to consult with the Kentucky Film Office to see how their projects can qualify.
In April, Virginia passed HB400 and SB612, extending the sunset date for the state's motion picture production tax credit to 2031, up from taxable year 2026. This five-year extension gives producers more certainty when planning long-lead projects in the Commonwealth.
Wisconsin officially entered the incentive landscape in January with its new film tax credit program.
The program offers a 30% transferable tax credit on qualifying in-state expenditures for productions that spend at least $100,000 in the state (or $50,000 for projects under 30 minutes). Credits are capped at $1 million per project and the incentive is funded at $5 million annually.
In April, AB884 clarified what constitutes qualifying production expenditures and adjusted rules around the salaries of highly compensated employees and credit transferability.
Wisconsin's return to the incentive market is worth watching, as it's a new program in a state with strong natural and urban locations and a growing production community.
The City of Superior Production Incentive Program offers film, television, and commercial productions a 25% cash rebate on qualified local expenses such as food, catering, and lodging, with a minimum spend of $10,000 within Superior city limits.
For productions filming in Wisconsin's northwest corner, this municipal rebate can stack on top of the statewide credit.
Domestic production incentives update frequently. Clearly, it can be a lot to keep track of. Wrapbook's Production Incentive Center is designed to help.
This comprehensive resource features full breakdowns of production incentive programs all across the country. A State Incentive Map lets you track programs across every jurisdiction at a glance. The Incentive Comparison Tool makes it easy to see how different programs stack up side-by-side. And the Production Incentive Finder helps you identify the right program based on your project's specifics.
Wrapbook's Production Incentive Center puts accurate, up-to-date information at your fingertips, so you can navigate U.S. production incentives with confidence.
Now, let's take a look at the proposed, not-yet-official incentive updates we're currently monitoring.
