Join the Crew
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
Get the best resources for producers delivered to your mailbox
The Wrapbook Team consists of individuals who are thrilled about building modern software tools for creators. We’re a team of compassionate and curious people dedicated to solving complex problems with sophisticated solutions. You can find us across the U.S. and Canada.
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.
Hollywood’s home state now backs its production ecosystem with one of the largest incentive allocations in the country. California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program 4.0 provides a 35% base credit, with targeted uplifts that can increase the benefit on certain qualified expenditures.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Partially Refundable, Non-Transferable Tax Credit / Fully Transferable Tax Credit (Independent)
Minimum Spend: $1 million for feature films and independent projects, $1 million per episode for television
Annual Cap: $750 million per fiscal year
Project Cap: Non-independent features receive the base credit on up to $120 million of qualified expenditures; independent films receive credits on the first $20 million
State Site: https://film.ca.gov/tax-credit/
A wide variety of productions can qualify for California movie tax breaks.
To qualify, an eligible production generally must spend at least 75% of its production budget in California or complete at least 75% of its principal photography days in the state. The program covers eligible feature films, scripted television, pilots, limited series, relocating television series, and qualifying animation projects.
Independent films may elect for a refundable credit or a transferable credit, which can give independent producers more flexibility when planning how to monetize the incentive.
In addition, both independent films and non-independent feature films can be eligible for what California terms “uplifts.” Uplifts are additional tax credits that a production may receive for the following circumstances:
The California Film Commission Program 4.0 guidelines provides additional information on pertinent details such as what are qualified expenditures and eligible hires.
Welcome to the Camera Ready State! As the state’s nickname indicates, Georgia has long been a major production hub with fairly straightforward movie tax breaks: a 20% transferable base credit with a potential 10% promotional uplift.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Transferable, Non-Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $500,000 in aggregate qualified Georgia spending during a single tax year
Annual Cap: None
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://georgia.org/industries/film/incentives
Georgia’s cut-and-dry tax breaks for film industry productions provide a 20% to 30% transferable tax credit for eligible projects.
The $500,000 minimum spend requirement may be met by one project or by aggregating multiple eligible projects produced by the same production company during a single tax year.
Only qualified Georgia expenditures generate the credit; a production does not have to complete every phase of the project in the state. Certain compensation caps apply.
Eligible productions can earn the additional 10% Georgia Entertainment Promotion uplift by meeting the state’s distribution and promotional requirements. That may involve using the Georgia promotional logo and approved link or completing an alternative marketing opportunity approved by the state.
All projects must undergo a mandatory audit. The final credit allocation can be used against qualifying Georgia tax liability or sold or transferred to one or more Georgia taxpayers.
Georgia also reinstated a standalone postproduction credit beginning in 2026. Qualified postproduction companies may earn a 20% base credit, with an additional 10% bonus if the project was shot in Georgia and a 5% add-on if postproduction work is completed in a rural county.
The Land of Lincoln offers productions a whopping 30% to 65% tax break on qualified expenditures that take place in-state through its Illinois film tax credit program.
What exactly are “qualified expenditures”?
Services purchased from Illinois vendors, personal property attained in-state, or compensation paid to Illinois residents on productions can all go toward tax breaks for film industry productions.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Transferable Non-Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $100,000; $50,000 for projects with a final runtime of 30 minutes or less
Annual Cap: None
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://dceo.illinois.gov/whyillinois/film/filmtaxcredit.html
Productions can receive a 35% credit on qualified Illinois vendor spending, postproduction expenses, and Illinois-resident salaries of up to $500,000 per worker. Certain eligible nonresident salaries can receive a 30% credit, also subject to a $500,000 per-worker limit.
Current rules allow eligible compensation for up to 13 nonresident employees other than actors, subject to program requirements. Productions may also include four, five, or six nonresident actors depending on the amount of qualified Illinois spending.
Additional credits may apply to qualifying spending categories, including:
For a detailed breakdown of the Illinois film tax credit, check out our Illinois page on the Production Incentive Center.
Kentucky’s Entertainment Incentive Program offers a refundable credit and a comparatively accessible path for documentaries and other smaller qualifying productions.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Fully Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $200,000 for most Kentucky-based production companies, $400,000 for out-of state companies, with lower thresholds for certain projects
Annual Cap: $75 million
Project Cap: NA
State Site: https://ced.ky.gov/Locating_Expanding/KEI/
Kentucky incentives offer qualified productions a 30% credit on eligible Kentucky expenditures. The rate may rise to 35% for qualifying spending in a designated Heritage County (formerly the Enhanced Incentive County bonus) or for projects that satisfy applicable Kentucky-resident workforce requirements.
Eligible projects may include television programs, documentaries, Broadway productions, and certain industrial productions. Productions should account for application, administrative, agreement, and certified-audit requirements when estimating the net value of the credit.
Louisiana’s Motion Picture Production Incentive Program offers up to a 40% tax credit on qualified in-state production expenditures, including eligible resident and nonresident labor.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Non-Transferable, Partially Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $300,000; $50,000 for qualifying Louisiana screenplay productions
Annual Cap: $125 million
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://www.louisianaentertainment.gov/film/motion-picture-production-program/
Louisiana provides a base credit of 25% on qualified Louisiana production expenditures. A Louisiana screenplay production may receive an additional 10%, while a qualifying project based and primarily photographed outside the New Orleans Metropolitan Statistical Area may receive an additional 5%.
Louisiana also provides credits tied to particular categories of spending:
Total credits cannot exceed 40% of the base investment. After final certification, a production may use the credit against Louisiana income tax or transfer it back to the state for 90% of face value, less the applicable transfer fee.
The Bay State currently offers a 25% payroll credit, a 25% production credit, and a sales tax exemption on production expenses for all eligible in-state projects.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Transferable, Partially Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $50,000 in qualifying Massachusetts costs during a consecutive 12-month period
Annual Cap: None
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://mafilm.org/tax-incentives/
The payroll credit applies to both qualifying above-the-line and below-the-line compensation.
To qualify for the production credit, a project generally must incur at least 75% of its total production expenses in Massachusetts or complete at least 75% of its principal photography days in the commonwealth.
The New Jersey Film & Digital Media Tax Credit Program provides transferable tax breaks for film investors and filmmakers of 30% to 39% on projects. It also includes a bonus for additionally qualifying productions.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Transferable, Non-Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $1 million or at least 60% of total production expenses incurred through qualifying New Jersey vendors
Annual Cap: $100 million for general film production projects, with separate allocations for other program categories
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://www.nj.gov/state/njfilm/incentives-credit.shtml
Qualified expenses incurred within the designated 30-mile radius of Columbus Circle generally receive a 30% credit, while other qualified New Jersey expenses may receive a 35% credit through the New Jersey film tax credit. Certain compensation caps apply.
Productions may earn an additional credit of up to 4% through the NJ hiring bonus.
Tax breaks for film investors and filmmakers in New Mexico help make ”The Land of Enchantment” a compelling production destination.
New Mexico’s refundable film production tax credit has no minimum spend and provides a 25% base rate on local spend, resident payroll, and certain nonresident talent.Below-the-line nonresident spend can qualify for a base credit of 15%.
Targeted uplifts can bring qualifying expenditures to a maximum credit of 40%.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Fully Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: None
Annual Cap: $150 million in FY2027; $160 million in FY2028 and thereafter
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://nmfilm.com/
The New Mexico film tax credit program also offers several bonuses including:
New Mexico also maintains a separate nonresident crew exception program with its own credit rate, position limits, and approval requirements. Because the annual cap changes by fiscal year and Film Partners are treated differently, productions should identify the correct allocation year before modeling the incentive.
Our list of the best tax breaks for film industry productions would not be complete without New York.
New York offers one of the country’s largest film production credit allocations, along with separate programs for independent productions, post-production, commercials, and digital gaming media.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Fully Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $1 million for productions primarily filming in New York City and specified downstate counties; $250,000 for productions primarily filming elsewhere in the state
Annual Cap: $700 million per year for the Film Production Tax Credit through 2036; a separate $100 million annual allocation for the Independent Film Production Tax Credit
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://esd.ny.gov/new-york-state-film-tax-credit-program-production
At the core of New York’s Film Production Tax Credit is a 30% tax credit for qualified production expenses. These expenses can include above-the-line wages, below-the-line wages, and other direct production costs incurred in New York. Certain compensation caps apply.
Productions with a minimum budget of $500,000 may receive an additional 10% credit on qualified labor expenses incurred in designated upstate counties. In certain circumstances, other qualified expenses in those counties may receive the uplift when the production satisfies the applicable principal-photography test.
Projects that qualify for the Production Plus program can get an additional 5% or 10% on subsequent qualifying projects.
New York’s separate Independent Film Production Tax Credit also provides a 30% base credit for independent productions and is funded at $100 million per calendar year. Independent producers must apply during designated windows and cannot claim credits under both production programs for the same project.
In addition to the film production tax credit, New York also offers similar film tax credits for commercials, post-production, and digital gaming media.
They say “everything is bigger in Texas,” and that can certainly be true of film production savings thanks to the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program (TMIIIP).
TMIIIP provides qualifying projects with a cash grant of up to 31% of eligible Texas spending based on a tiered structure, including eligible wages paid to Texas residents. Grant rates vary by project type, spending level, and applicable additions and certain compensation caps apply.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Cash grant
Minimum Spend: $250,000 for film and television; $100,000 for other eligible project types
Annual Cap: $300 million per biennium (every two years)
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://gov.texas.gov/film/page/tmiiip
Film and television projects must spend at least $250,000 in Texas. They must also complete at least 60% of production in the state and meet separate 35% Texas-residency thresholds for paid cast and paid crew.
Applications must be submitted before production begins, and the Texas Film Commission evaluates projects for eligibility, economic impact, residency compliance, content, and available funding. Payments are made after the project completes the state’s expenditure-verification process.
In the true spirit of production incentives, this list includes a bonus: West Virginia.
A hidden gem, West Virginia film tax breaks can be perfect for small to midsize and independent productions due to the program’s applicant-friendly simplicity.
Film Tax Breaks Offered: Transferable Non-Refundable Tax Credit
Minimum Spend: $50,000 in a calendar year
Annual Cap: None
Project Cap: None
State Site: https://westvirginia.gov/filmincentives/
The state currently offers up to 31% in transferable tax credits for qualified in-state expenditures.
This includes a 27% base credit and additional 4% credit for productions that hire 10 or more state residents for their projects. These hires can be talent, above-the-line crew, or below-the-line crew, so long as they work full time during principal photography.
Plenty of states offer tax breaks for film investors and filmmakers. You just need to seek out the location or locations that best suit your project’s needs.
Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center offers comprehensive insights and tools to help you do just that. Check it out or visit our post on the film incentives that every state currently offers to compare your options.
The exact process varies by state, but most programs follow a similar sequence:
Do not assume that spending will qualify retroactively. Missing a pre-production application deadline can make an otherwise eligible project ineligible.
No, not all states have film tax breaks.
Some states have no statewide production incentive, while others offer only limited grants, regional programs, sales tax exemptions, or local assistance. Programs can also be suspended, replaced, or introduced through new legislation, so confirm the current status before budgeting.
Yes. Each program defines its eligible and ineligible production types.
News, sporting events, awards shows, talk shows, political content, corporate or instructional work, obscene material, and projects produced primarily for private use are common exclusions, but the list varies by state.
Some programs also treat documentaries, reality television, commercials, music videos, animation, interactive media, and standalone postproduction differently.
Film productions can receive several types of tax breaks. These include:
Incentive type matters. A 30% transferable credit may yield less cash than a 30% refundable credit after broker fees, buyer discounts, timing, and transaction costs are considered.
It depends on where and what you plan to film. Permitting is typically handled by a city, county, state agency, property owner, or other authority with jurisdiction over the location. A permit is not universally required for every shoot, and permit timing is separate from a state incentive program’s application deadline. Confirm both requirements well before principal photography.
Choosing where to shoot can have a major impact on your production budget. The right state incentive may reduce qualified production costs, free up funds for creative priorities, or make an ambitious location financially possible.
But programs vary widely. Credit rates, eligible expenses, application deadlines, residency rules, and payment structures all differ by state, and can change frequently.
Below, we’re breaking down 10 standout state production incentive programs in alphabetical order and sharing the details producers should compare before choosing a location.
Production incentive information is never static. Legislatures amend programs, agencies update rules, and annual funding can change between the time you budget and the time you apply.
That’s why Wrapbook’s Production Incentive Center can be an invaluable resource as you budget your next production. Search incentives, compare states, and review program details for film tax breaks available all across the United States.
From film tax incentives to commercial rebates and more, our comprehensive and up-to-date Production Incentive Center makes it easier to explore all your options as you decide where to shoot your next project.
