Written by on May 21, 2014. Posted in On Location

Jake Gyllenhaal to film boxing drama Southpaw on location in Pennsylvania

Jake Gyllenhaal will film boxing drama Southpaw on location in Pennsylvania with director Antoine Fuqua. Pennsylvania is a popular movie location partly because of its competitive 25% filming tax credit and the state recently hosted Russell Crowe’s new drama Fathers and Daughters.

“We are very happy to welcome Jake Gyllenhaal back to south-western Pennsylvania, and also thrilled to welcome [Pennsylvania native] Antoine Fuqua back home,” Pittsburgh Film Office director Dawn Keezer told TimesOnline.

“It is another great example of the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit working successfully to bring more jobs and more new revenue to our region.”

In recent years Pennsylvania’s filming incentive has helped the state attract high-profile features like Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher (above), David O Russell’s Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook and Law Abiding Citizen.

Nonetheless, the incentive has an annual cap of USD60 million, which the regional production industry has been campaigning to change.

It is another great example of the Pennsylvania Film Tax Credit working successfully to bring more jobs and more new revenue to our region.

Dawn Keezer, Director of the Pittsburgh Film Office

Filming incentives remain a controversial subject in the US. While Pennsylvania has grappled with its annual spending cap, Maryland recently agreed to renegotiate its incentive deal with the producers of political drama House of Cards in order to keep the Netflix show in Baltimore.

Further south, the North Carolina production industry faces an uncertain future as the state’s existing filming incentive is set to close at the end of this year and a renewal is far from certain. Florida faces similar uncertainty as state authorities have refused to replenish a film fund that was fully allocated long ago.

New York, Louisiana and California remain the top production hubs in the US.