South Florida is finally beginning to step up it’s game in production!   With the final passing of the five year $242 million transferable tax incentive program a lot more productions may be knocking on our doorstep.

For years shows like Dexter, CSI Miami, and Nip Tuck would film b-roll shots in Miami and leave the rest of the production to people in Los Angeles.  It was always so frustrating for me to watch these shows that are supposed to take place in Miami and then see California sets instead of Florida ones.  With these new tax incentives hopefully more productions like Burn Notice on USA and The Glades on A&E  will start to show their faces around South Florida.

Here are the program highlights (from the film in Florida website):

• 5 year – $242 million transferable tax credit
• $53.5 million transferable tax credits authorized for the 2010/2011 fiscal year
• 20% – 30% transferable tax credit
o 20% base percentage
o 5% Off Season Bonus
o 5% Family Friendly Bonus
• Three separate queues based on project type/budget:
1. General Production Queue
o Eligible productions: films, TV, documentaries, digital media projects, commercials  and music videos
o $50,290,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $625,000
o Maximum incentive reward: $8,000,000
2.   Commercial and Music Video Queue
o $1,605,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $100,000 per commercial or music video
o After a production company produces national or regional commercials, music  videos, or both and reaches the threshold of $500,000, it is                    eligible to apply (can bundle projects)
o Maximum incentive reward: $500,000
3.   Independent & Emerging Media Production Queue
o Eligible: films, TV, documentaries, digital media projects
o $1,605,000 in tax credits available
o Minimum spend: $100,000
o Maximum spend: $625,000
o Maximum incentive reward: $125,000
• An off-season certified production that is a feature film, independent film, or TV series or pilot is  eligible for an additional 5% tax credit on actual qualified expenditures
• A certified theatrical or direct-to-video motion picture production or video game determined by the Film Commissioner with the advice of the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council, to be family-friendly, based on the review of the script and the review of the final release version, is eligible for an additional tax credit equal to 5% of its actual qualified expenditures
• Qualified high-impact television series (min $625,000 per episode with an order of at least 7 episodes per season) have priority for tax credits awards not yet certified
• Qualified projects must be certified (tax credits allocated to project) prior to principal photography or project start date (not applicable to qualified projects in the commercial and music video queue)
• Min 50% production cast and below-the-line production crew must be legal Florida residents on all qualified/certified projects (except digital media projects)
• Min 75% positions must be legal Florida residents on digital media projects
• Qualified production expenditures include pre-production, production and post-production but exclude costs for development, marketing, and distribution

For more information about the incentives and anything else to do with filming in the sunshine state  go to www.filminflorida.com