“Carry-On” was a huge hit for Netflix. “Nickel Boys” earned Oscar nominations. And now “Sinners” has opened to rave reviews. These three very different films share one common bond, says Brittany Chandler, director of Film New Orleans. They all shot in and around New Orleans.
“Sinners” reportedly spent more than $65 million on location in Louisiana. Yet all that success was jeopardized last fall when Louisiana’s governor, Jeff Landry, backed by the state’s House of Representatives, moved to eliminate the state’s film tax credits. That would have dealt a devastating blow to an industry still trying to regain its footing in the state after the dual Hollywood strikes of 2023.
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Back in 2002, Louisiana had been the pioneering state in tax incentives; it had worked so well that about half the parishes in the state had hosted a film or TV crew in the subsequent five years. So everyone from Hollywood executives to Film Louisiana and others in the local industry to citizens who benefited from the money spent in their communities lobbied hard to keep the incentives.
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“A recent poll showed that 80% of the population here are absolutely in favor of this program and see the massive benefits of film in the state,” says Jason Waggenspack, who is president of Film Louisiana as well as CEO of the Ranch Film Studios, which was “two blighted big box stores that I turned into 300,000 square feet of soundstage and production space.”
After the industry accepted some concessions (new caps on how many projects can apply and how much money is given out), the tax credit was preserved through 2031.
Corey Parker, executive director of Celtic Studios, which is near Baton Rouge, hopes this deal puts the issue to rest, though he knows they’ll need to always lobby new members of the legislature. “You need stability and to have your legislation supporting the industry to allow it to grow,” he says.
That growth is vital for the future not just of the industry there but for the state, since film and TV production generates thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions in earnings for residents each year, says Waggenspack.
The state also works to develop homegrown talent. Back in 2017, Film Louisiana worked with Louisiana Economic Development to create the Entertainment Development Fund. Through the fund, LED gives 2% of every tax credit for workforce development and education. Waggenspack says 18 higher education institutions now teach digital media or film in the state while numerous nonprofit organizations do workforce training and development, down to teaching middle schoolers in New Orleans and Baton Rouge about filmmaking and the industry.
“Most kids that I talk to see these movies and ask, ‘How do I ever get to do that?’” he says. “We love having the opportunity to put these tools into these kids’ hands.”
Baton Rouge film commissoner Katie Pryor says people often think production is limited to the New Orleans area, so it’s important to show legislators it’s happening all over the state so they can see the economic benefits for a local market.
Parker says he has made it a point of inviting legislators to TV and film sets. He says at one point, the “loudest voice in the legislature against us saw his neighbors’ farms being used, his fireman friends and police friends employed by the production and the next thing you know, he is speaking out for us publicly.”
Projects that shoot outside of New Orleans get an extra 5% tax credit, which Parker says helps spread the wealth, as does the 15% additional break for hiring Louisiana residents.
“We’re just manufacturing entertainment instead of steel,” says Parker, adding that salaries earned on film and TV productions are 60% higher than average salaries in the state. Parker says the naysayers are shortsighted, looking only at the initial return on the dollar, not the six and a half times it turns over in the community.
“When there’s a production, your hotels and restaurants are full and your dry cleaning is busy,” he says. “It’s a lot of consumption, a lot of spend. The money turning over has already fulfilled itself long before they pay a dollar out from the incentive.”
Those films come for the tax incentives and stay for an array of other benefits, Waggenspack says. There’s the mix of distinctive scenery, from the French Quarter to the swamps to deserts, lakes and cities that can stand in for other more expensive metropolises from New York to Taipei. “We’re a great place to tell your story,” he says.
Additionally, while tax incentives are the game-changer, Waggenspack says film projects save money on everything from lumber and other building material to car and office rentals compared to most competing states. And Parker notes that decades of filming throughout the state means Louisiana has a deep bench of experienced crew. “We can have 13 or 14 productions going at once,” he says.
Still, Waggenspack says that, like virtually every state, there was a dip in film production after the strikes, especially as the turmoil combined with shifts in the dollar’s value encouraged more projects to shoot abroad. Chandler says that two features just wrapped in New Orleans but that most recent projects have been documentaries or movies in the $4 million-$6 million range.
Louisiana has shown an ability to adapt before. Waggenspack says that when they saw the growth in episodic content and realized it could provide more continuity in terms of work, the state offered a five-year guarantee on tax credits. “We saw a swell of episodic television over the last five years,” he says.
With markets changing yet again, he says they’re contemplating new ideas like perhaps raising the above-the-line cap due to the increased presence of major stars in episodic television or figuring out deals to incentivize a studio to bring three or four projects in one year to Louisiana as a way to battle against international markets.
“We’re working with both the studios and the state to see what we can do to stay more competitive,” he says. “We’re optimistic things are moving in the right direction.”
Parker believes production in Louisiana will fully pick up in the latter half of the year. Waggenspack says there’s enough optimism that he’s had conversations with animation studios and smaller independent studios. Meanwhile, there’s one significant new player: 50 Cent, whose G-Unit Films and Television is preparing to open a studio in Shreveport.
COO Temple Williams says their studio will have a more sustainable business model: while others are forced to chase projects, their space will be open to outside productions but “the core of our business is producing G-Unit content.”
“We want to generate volume and consistency of work that will represent real stable jobs for an economy that truly needs them,” he says, calling the studio “a Trojan horse for urban renewal. We’ll provide a big uplift for Shreveport and for Northwest Louisiana as a whole.”
(As for a timeline for opening, he says that there are some lease details to work out, then the company needs nine months to a year to do a “complete renovation of the existing footprint” of the studio that previously operated there.)
Still, the state’s biggest star will always be New Orleans and spaces like Second Line Stages. “New Orleans is sort of synonymous with Louisiana film,” Chandler says, but she adds that she’ll act as a liaison to help productions get permits for shooting in other locations around Louisiana. “We’re unified as an industry.”
Pryor agrees, saying that there’s no competitiveness there. “I don’t know if it’s our culture of being community-oriented, which I think is probably rooted in the fact that we all are recovering from natural disasters all the time, but we are very much there for each other.”
