Four takeaways from failed legislative effort to change TV, film tax credit

“It’s not often the state Senate does the right thing, but killing HB 1180 is exactly what the Georgia film industry needed to restabilize after a long year of strikes and economic uncertainty,” said Beth Moore, a former Georgia House rep and film industry attorney with Arnall, Golden & Gregory.

Over the years, the state has attracted successful TV series such as AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and Fox’s “The Resident” along with big-budget film franchises like “Black Panther,” “Hunger Games” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” flooding into town.

Currently, Georgia studios are filling with projects such as a live-action Disney film “Moana,” Kevin Hart’s pricey Peacock series “Fight Night,” Steve Harvey’s durable game show “Family Feud,” Kevin Bacon’s new Amazon series “The Bondsman” and Netflix’s romance drama “Sweet Magnolias.”

2. This break may be temporary

Several state legislators, led by Republican Sen. Chuck Hufstetler, entered the year wanting to place safeguards on the tax credit system which has always been uncapped, meaning there is no technical limit to how many tax credits the state could hand out any given year.

In recent years, the state has certified more than $1 billion a year to big media companies such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Apple, DC Studios and NBCUniversal. Legislators were worried that if the state budget, which has seen surpluses in recent years, suddenly saw big deficits like it did after the 2008 recession, the film and TV tax credits could siphon away needed dollars from priorities like education and law enforcement.

“I think we’ll be back at this again next year,” said Stephen Weizenecker, an Atlanta-based entertainment attorney.

Randy Davidson, publisher of Georgia Entertainment News, said the TV and film industry hates uncertainty and a bill that signaled no more changes for a few years would have reduced that uncertainty.

“Unfortunately, that didn’t happen,” Davidson said. “In the end, we have to find some way of dealing with the uncapped nature of the system to appease Chuck Hufstetler and the tax incentive hawks.”

Long Tran, a Democratic House representative who dabbles in acting and helped organize a Georgia Film Day to bolster the industry last week, said regardless of what happens down the road, “we have to make sure the credits don’t become a burden so that film is a permanent part of industry in Georgia.”

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