South Carolina Provides $20 Million in Incentive Funding

South Carolina has announced that it is providing $20 million in incentive funding to movies filmed in the state. Whereas some other incentive programs take 18 months to get the incentive monies back to the moviemakers, South Carolina pays “100 percent of the value of the incentive in cash within 30 days of the final audit and tax compliance,” says state film commissioner Jeff Monks. “This means that filmmakers can use the money in post or start paying off loans sooner.”

When a qualified production spends $1 million in South Carolina it becomes eligible for cash rebates on employee wages (20 percent for in-state employees and 10 percent for out-of-state employees) and supplier rebates of up to 30 percent. As an added benefit, all productions which spend more than $250,000 in-state are exempt from paying sales tax and all SC productions can utilize state properties without paying location fees. The tax exemption, in addition to the supplier rebates, reduces supplier costs by 38 percent.

For more information on South Carolina filming incentives, visit http://www.scfilmoffice.com.