End urged to cap on film incentives

The state's economic development department wants to remove a $500,000 limit on film incentives offered to major motion picture productions in Utah.

Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said Tuesday that removing the cap would allow Utah to better compete with neighboring states in luring big-budget films.

"Right now, we're in the lowest category of incentives. This would put us to the middle of the pack. But really, as we have worked on our economic model, it's not essential for us to be the highest bidder for these projects. There are a lot of very legitimate business reasons why films should be and are coming to state of Utah apart from the incentives," Perry said.

He will present lawmakers with a proposal today, less than a month after a special session was called by Gov. Jon Huntsman to slash the state budget by about $272 million.