Skip to main content

Push is on to raise Ohio film tax incentive to $100 million

'The Avengers' films in downtown Cleveland
There’s a bill before the Ohio General Assembly poised to more than double the Motion Picture Tax Credit, lifting the benefit from $40 million per fiscal year to $100 million. The goal is to expand the state’s budding film industry by attracting more film, television and theater production.

The tax credit played a pivotal role in the state landing bigger budget films, like The Avengers, Alex Cross, and Captain America: Winter Soldier. In recent years, however, states with larger tax incentives have lured those productions away.

Georgia, for example, offers a 20 percent tax credit for companies that spend $500,000 or more on production and post-production, throwing in another 10 percent if the film includes the state’s logo in its end credits. Broderick Johnson, producer of The Blind Side, referred to the credit as “one of the best, if not the best, in the country,” in an interview with Variety. There appears to be no cap, which is why the state has become the Hollywood of the East.

Competing for more film production

Raising Ohio’s cap to $100 million would boost the state’s ability to compete for productions and, according to Ivan Schwarz, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, via cleveland.com, it may give the state one of the “best incentives in the United States, which will make us more competitive than anybody.”

“The incentive is applied to the film’s budget line and, in turn, the incentive is then spent in Ohio,” Schwarz explained to Midwest Movie Maker previously. “That money never leaves the state. It’s spent on local crews and cast, locations, local vendors, hotels, restaurants, shops and so on.”

The goal, as always, is to encourage the evolution of a permanent production economy in Ohio.

Broadway joins the club

If passed, the incentive would include Broadway theater productions. Plays and musicals that run in Ohio for at least five weeks, with at least six performances a week, would qualify. Off-Broadway adaptive versions would be eligible as well. Only New York, Chicago and New Hampshire provide tax benefits to Broadway productions.

The theater incentive could be a boon for Cleveland, home to one of the country’s largest theater districts, second only to New York.







Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Everything we know about Hulu's ‘The Land,’ the Cleveland Browns TV series

Actor Christopher Meloni hanging with the Cleveland Browns (photo Christopher Meloni) >> The Land , once called 17 Sundays , is This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman‘s upcoming Hulu series set in the world of pro football, starring Christopher Meloni and William H. Macy, and featuring a fictionalized version of the Cleveland Browns. Production has now wrapped, scenes were filmed in Northeast Ohio, and Hulu is targeting a 2027 release. In August 22025, Deadline reported that “ The Land  … got the largest allocation (of California tax credits) … with nearly $43 million.” Here’s everything we know so far about The Land . What is The Land  TV series about? The series centers on the Cleveland Browns, with Macy as team owner Hank Durkin, Meloni as head coach Danny Roarke, and Mandy Moore as Durkin’s ambitious daughter, Lauren, who has spent much of her life preparing to one day run the team. With family succession battles, front-office politics, an Ohio State quarterback becoming...
1 comment
Read more

'Frankenstein,' family history and the art of listening: Meet Brittany Dobish

Brittany Dobish >> Whether she is documenting a nonprofit’s mission, preserving a piece of local history or helping someone tell a deeply personal story, Brittany Dobish believes the most meaningful moments happen when people feel safe enough to be heard. And safe enough to be honest. “I don’t interview people to find out who they are,” Dobish explains. “I interview them to remind them of who they are.” That philosophy shapes both her filmmaking and Dobish Legacy Films , the company she launched in 2024 to help people and organizations preserve the stories that might otherwise disappear. For Dobish, documentary filmmaking is not simply about recording what happened. It is about listening closely enough to discover what those experiences meant. Dobish with Mark Hamer, Crash Cat Media Finding meaning in the misunderstood Dobish’s interest in people, identity and personal history began long before she picked up a camera. As a teenager, she spent years observing the people around he...
Post a Comment
Read more

Everything we know about ‘Eenie Meanie’ on set in Cleveand, Toledo and Sandusky

Samara Weaving as Edie in 'Eenie Meanie' Before James Gunn and the cast and crew of Superman took over Cleveland, another star-studded feature film was laying claim to the sights and sounds and gritty streets of Northeast Ohio: Shawn Simmons Eenie Meanie , debuting today on Hulu. While both films tell the tale of a misunderstood hero just trying to live an honest life, each production brought an entirely different vibe to Cleveland’s neighborhoods. And I say this from personal experience. As a cinephile working downtown during Superman ’s shoot, getting a peek behind the scenes was an exercise in watching from a distance, peering through second-story grocery store windows, or finding hidden spots in parking decks looking over Progressive Field. Eenie Meanie ? Well, all you had to do was ask, and the crew would point you to a good spot on set to watch the action. The set was so open and friendly on the one day I went exploring in Ohio City, I was too self-conscious to take pictu...
Post a Comment
Read more