Written by on Oct 27, 2011. Posted in On Location

Alabama launches 48-foot grip truck for crew training and location filming assistance

Alabama offers a 25% filming tax rebate, but its new 48-foot grip truck could help bolster the state-wide industry. The new truck cost USD100,000 to develop and includes equipment like boom mikes and camera scaffolding, as well as a sound-proofed video editing suite.

The Birmingham News reports that the truck was launched by the Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) organisation and will be used to teach Alabamians film production skills to improve the state’s crew base. It’ll also be available as an extra resource for the use of productions visiting Alabama.

Ed Castille is Director of AIDT and spoke to the outlet: “We came up with the idea ourselves and approached the studios about it. As far as we know, there is no other state offering something like this. I was in California last week and one of the people we met with - a pretty high-level person - was stunned and impressed we were going in that direction.”

We came up with the idea ourselves and approached the studios about it. As far as we know, there is no other state offering something like this.

Ed Castille, AIDT

Alabama has already trained 170 locals in basic film production and expanding the scheme could help crew big-budget productions visiting from out-of-state. Being able to provide a strong local crew base could help Alabama compete with neighbouring states that have more competitive filming incentives.