Utah sweetens film incentives

Utah has sweetened the pot as it tries to get filmmakers to shoot more productions in the state.

Prior to approving incentives for three films on Friday, the Governor's Office of Economic Development Board approved a change in policy that ramps up the amount of rebates companies can receive.

Before Friday, companies could get up to 10 percent of their in-state spending in a rebate. Now that figure is 15 percent, although the cap for individual projects in the Motion Picture Incentive Fund remains at $500,000.

Jerry Oldroyd, chairman of the board's incentives committee, said the industry has become more competitive the past few years, and the fund provides Utah with a strong return on its investment.

"We recently lost of a number of films to New Mexico. ... We've lost a number of films to Texas, and it's become obvious that our incentives, based on what we're hearing ... that our incentives simply were inadequate," Oldroyd said.

Marshall Moore, director of the Utah Film Commission, agreed.

"When we first started an incentives program in 2004 through the Industrial Assistance Fund, there were only 15 other states that were offering film incentives," Moore said. "Now there are 40, and there are many more in the works. We believe that all 50 states at some point will offer film incentives. Probably within the next year, we'll see 50 states with them."

Getting repeat business is a key, he said.

"That's the main thing we want to do. We want to establish relationships with producers, and they make their film, and we want them to come back again, use the same crew and make their movies here, because they have choices. They can go to other sites," Moore said.

With the new policy in place, the board approved incentives for:

• American Mall LLC, which will receive up to $500,000 for spending $5 million in Utah from a total production budget of more than $5.9 million. The movie will be distributed by MTV.

"It was described to us as 'High School Musical in a Mall' meets 'Phantom of the Opera,"' Oldroyd said. "How could we not incent a film like that?"

• Salty Pictures Inc., which will receive up to $450,000 for spending about $3 million of the total budget of $5.2 million for "Minutemen" in Utah. To be shot entirely in Utah, the film will air on the Disney Channel.

• Sunshine Maker LP, which will get up to $150,000 after spending about $1 million in Utah, from a total budget of nearly $1.3 million. It will shoot in and around Provo for a movie titled "Yankles," in which a coach teaches baseball to Orthodox Jewish players.

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E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com

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