Film and television professionals met at the Montclair Film Festival on May 4th to discuss concerns over the New Jersey film tax credit program’s 2015 sunset date.

If it is not extended, it will affect 14,000 New Jersey citizens who currently work in the entertainment industry. In 2010, Governor Chris Christie ordered the suspension of the film tax credit program; the program began accepting applications in 2011 but has yet to receive more state funding. Though New Jersey is an attractive filming location, many film and television projects opt for other states with better incentives and less stringent restrictions.

Presently, the film tax credit program has a spending cap of $10 million. Qualifying productions can receive a 20 percent rebate on money spent on goods, services, and staff in New Jersey if it amounts to at least 60 percent of the production's total budget. If a production only shoots a few scenes in New Jersey, it cannot qualify for a tax credit. Lawmakers are beginning to take action; Senator Weinberg and Senator Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) co-sponsored a bill, S 799, which will raise the spending cap on film tax credits from $10 million to $50 million. In the bill, the authors cited the film tax credit programs in Pennsylvania and New Mexico and the positive impact on the states’ local economies.