By Laura Spencer
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kcur/local-kcur-565946.mp3
Kansas City, MO – Tax incentives are offered around the world - from California to New Zealand - as a way to draw film productions and potential revenue. In Topeka today, the House Economic Development and Tourism Committee holds a hearing on three bills that would provide tax breaks for filming in Kansas. KCUR's Laura Spencer reports.
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Infamous...filmed in Canada. Capote...also filmed in Canada. Both were based on Truman Capote's research about the murder of a family in a small town in Kansas for his book In Cold Blood. Kansas Department of Commerce's Deputy Secretary Patty Clark estimates - with tax breaks as incentives - the state would be able to recruit 1 - 2 midrange films, like these, a year.
Patty Clark: Let's say a film of the Capote size, which was about a $13 million dollar budget. Most experts in film production would tell you that 35 to 50 percent of the expenditures that are made....are made on location....50%...spend about 6.5 million in the state of Kansas.
Lawmakers today will begin considering the film tax incentive proposals, which include a 50 percent tax credit for investors, a 30 percent tax credit for expenditures, and a sales tax rebate. Missouri already offers a film production tax credit. Laura Spencer, KCUR News.