And…. Roll ‘Em!

I will admit to being more than a little biased about filmmaking in Pennsylvania. I love movies. I love movie stars. And the thought of both in my home state? Sigh.

And yes, maybe it has to do with the dreams that I secretly harbored of becoming a movie star after I was an extra in “Hiding Out” while in high school…

And it’s true that, while in law school, I cut class to try to meet Brad Pitt when he was filming “Twelve Monkeys” (ironically, while trying to spot him, I literally bumped right into Bruce Willis). I watched “The Sixth Sense” and tried to match all of the scenes with the real locations in Philly. I was ecstatic to learn that “Trading Places” was filmed in the Union League of Philadelphia (I’m a member).

So, I guess you could say I’m a Pennsylvania movie junkie.

As a result, I was excited to see that Pennsylvania not only fixed its budget crisis, but also increased tax incentives in the budget to attract filmmaking.

I’ve known this has been in the works for a while. Sharon Pinkenson, head of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, was a guest speaker at the RDC business breakfast series a couple of years back and mentioned then that she was trying to increase the available incentives.

I don’t know all of the details yet, but I do know that the package included $75 million in tax credits for producers making movies, television shows, and commercials. The budget for the projects has to be at least $2 million, and at least 60% of the budget must be earmarked to be spent in Pennsylvania.

States like Pennsylvania have been searching for incentives to offer producers to compete with Canadian provinces that have been luring movie makers with promises of lower costs and taxes.