Cleveland Film Commission Proposing Increase to $75 Million For Ohio's Film Tax Incentives; Potential Sound Stage Locations Revealed Too
The Russo brothers are from Cleveland and they shot the majority of CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER in the area. Cleveland has also been a filming home to Marvel films SPIDER-MAN 3 and THE AVENGERS; plus, Joe Russo confirmed the city is back on Marvel Studios' potential filming location list for the AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR films (see that post link below).
Lately, Cleveland has had trouble convincing Marvel and other Hollywood studios to come back to shoot more high profile movies in and around the city; ever since the gigantic Pinewood Studios facility opened in Atlanta in 2014. Winter Soldier was the last really big high profile film shot in Cleveland and that was three years ago, in spring 2013.
"...[S]tates like Georgia have the sound stages we need to create the special effects, and they offer a bigger tax incentive," Joe Russo said during the panel. "But we would love to film here."
According to Schwarz, things might be changing for the film industry in Cleveland (and Ohio) very soon as he confirmed the state legislature is considering his proposal to increase Ohio's film tax incentives from its current $20 million per year amount to a whopping $75 million per year. This big increase would make Ohio a major contender for big blockbuster film productions, if state lawmakers approve it this spring.
“It’s not a subsidy for filmmakers. The incentive creates jobs and builds infrastructure. And people want to shoot here," Schwarz said.
“If we get [sound stages] built, we could potentially bring $600 million into the economy a year. Then we can start to talk about the thousands of jobs we would create, too," Schwarz said and that's big comparing that annual number to the combined total of the last six years which brought in $400 million.
And it's not like actors hate shooting in Cleveland. In fact, Schwarz told the crowd that Captain America himself Chris Evans loves coming to Cleveland to film.
The coming months are very important for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, Schwarz, the city of Cleveland and the state because if the film tax incentive isn't increased then Hollywood will continue to flock to current filming hot spots like Atlanta and Louisiana.
Related Posts:
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - Joe Russo Confirms Cleveland as Potential Filming LocationRusso Brothers Say CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR Will be "Twice as Aggressive in Tone and Execution"