1. United States
2. Pa.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urge you to support and expand the Pennsylvania tax incentive for film and television production.  Our industry is hurting, people are out of work (including ourselves!) and we need to get back to work. I will be clear - the time is now for BOLD action to make Pennsylvania appealing in the face of global competition.   I am a producer and my wife is a Costume Designer and we make our living working in film and television.  It is imperative that we stay competitive in a business that has seen a dramatic outsourcing of our work to Canada and other countries over the last couple years.   Please take action in your budget proposal to expand the credit if possible to $300 million annually in incentives and do anything possible to make the incentive more appealing to producers and studios.  A minimum spend component (say $1M) helps bring producers who may only want / need to come to PA for a week; even a few filming days can mean hundreds of people employed.  Additional 5 or 10 percentage ‘bumps’ for filming in more rural counties, say outside of Pittsburgh & Philly metro areas is also enticing. (This is same policy in place in NJ & NY and many other states).   This is an incentive that’s all about GOOD PAYING JOBS and it doesn’t cost taxpayers a dime - tax CREDITS are only provided once the work comes to the state of PA.  Thank you.