Written by on Jul 2, 2013. Posted in Incentive News

Pennsylvania fails to remove annual filming incentive cap

Pennsylvania has failed to remove the annual spending cap from its filming incentive programme for the next fiscal year. The state has a 25% filming tax credit but the annual film fund is worth only USD60 million and this figure is usually fully allocated within just a few months.

“We're extremely disappointed,” Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn Keezer told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “We're happy we still have a programme. Now we're going to work toward trying to get it better for next year. It's not how we planned on starting the new [fiscal] year.

“The states with uncapped programmes are being extremely successful. They're growing this industry and they're getting infrastructure built because they've got a growing industry, so they're really building a business.”

In recent years Pittsburgh has stood in for Gotham City in The Dark Knight Rises and has also hosted Tom Cruise’s vigilante thriller Jack Reacher. However, the annual cap is resulting in lost business, such as the new modern-day version of family feud drama Hatfields & McCoys that’s set to double Boston for Pittsburgh.