BATON ROUGE (AP) — State officials say Louisiana's generous film incentive program could and should be better designed to get the state a bigger return on its investment. According to the most recent estimates, the program has costs taxpayers about $170 million a year.
On that point there was general agreement among five opinionated panelists Wednesday who convened to discuss the state's program, which has helped Louisiana become the nation's busiest locale for feature filmmaking.
But there was no consensus on how to change it, raising questions about what reforms, if any, will be proposed in the legislative session that begins in April.
The film program is likely going to be one of several major state incentives under scrutiny this year, with the Legislature trying to solve a shortfall that tops $1.4 billion — a gap that threatens to bring steep cuts to higher education, and one that stems in part from the spiraling cost of taxpayer-sponsored giveaways.
The major critiques of Louisiana's film program are that it's a drain on the state budget and that filmmakers will make movies here only as long as Louisiana's subsidy program is the nation's most generous. The costs have risen steadily almost every year since the program was created in 2002, although last year saw a small decrease from 2013, according to data.
Will French, president of the Louisiana Film Entertainment Association, tells The Advocate’s Gordon Russell he's not ready to accept the findings of various studies showing that the film program is a net loser for the state.
He said the LFEA is co-sponsoring its own study with the Motion Picture Association of America that will attempt to better assess the film industry's impact, including previously uncounted benefits, such as its impact on tourism.
French said he wants to wait for LFEA's upcoming study, as well as at least two other reports in the works, including a biannual study by an economist hired by the Legislature and a separate examination by the Pew Research Center.
The LFEA study was originally due last month, but French said more research has since been commissioned, and he's not sure when the results will be ready. It's more important to have good numbers than to have them fast, he said.
