NEW LEGISLATION TO CREATE TRANSFERABLE TAX CREDITS FOR THE FILM INDUSTRY IN COLORADO
On February 12, 2020,. Dustin Hodge and Gregory Howell represented the new Pueblo Regional Film Commission during a visit to the Colorado State Capitol in Denver to meet with our legislators to discuss a new bill coming to the floor of the legislature. Donald Zuckerman, Film Commissioner, and Mariel Rodriguez-McGill, Deputy Film Commissioner of the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media (COFTM), joined the Pueblo delegation as we met with Senate President Leroy M. Garcia, Representative Daneya Esgar, HD 46 and Representative Bri Buentello HD 47. We discussed the existing film tax incentives, workforce and economic development, and ways to recruit and keep creative industries in Colorado through a transferable tax credit for film which would be a tremendous boost for our industry.
Just hours before the first meeting, the Denver Business Journal published a lengthy story aptly titled The End? which discusses the near collapse of our film industry in Colorado which is on the brink of extinction. The current state of the film industry requires bold and thoughtful measures to ensure a strong and sustainable future for creatives and the industry.
The new bill would pass into law a $5 million/year transferable tax credit (TTC) for film, television, and media, helping our state's film industry get back to opening new businesses, building infrastructure, and providing career opportunities for Coloradans. '“TTCs, which are used in other states, are credits based on a percentage of a qualified spend that a producer can use to offset tax liability or can take to a bank or private-equity firm to sell on the open market to a company with significant tax liability. In states like Georgia and California, such credits can fetch about 90 cents on the dollar and are attractive because of their portability and flexibility” according to the Denver Business Journal article. This tax credit program would work alongside the current cash rebate program, which, although much smaller, continues to be helpful to smaller local productions. Last year, 100% of the $750,000 in the rebate program was spent on productions by Colorado-based production companies.
Legislators indicated they're open to a new tax credit program, but they need to hear from constituents to understand its importance to the state. The Pueblo Regional Film Commission felt the urgency to personally meet with local legislators in an effort to get the bill passed. We as a community need to tell our state legislators why this new tax credit is so important. We encourage all interested parties to sign up here and when it's time to act, we'll email everyone a prepared letter for them to send to their legislators (along with the names and emails of each person's legislators). Once you have signed, please share the link with friends and colleagues within the industry – and with anyone outside the industry whose business or career has been helped as a result of film production.
We welcome the help of any organizations whose members stand to benefit from the increased economic opportunity that would come from this bill. Please encourage all to share the link with their members and partners, it will greatly help our chances of getting this bill passed.
Anyone interested in other ways of helping this cause should email John VanWyck at jvanwyck@gmail.com or his colleague Samantha Sigler at ssigler3@gmail.com.
Thank you.
