By Catherine M. Welch
Wilmington, NC – EUE Screen Gems says the Wilmington area lost roughly 200 jobs and $10-million dollars into the economy when a Walt Disney film looking to shoot at the beach went elsewhere.
The film script and corresponding novel by Nicholas Sparks is based in Wrightsville Beach. But the 30% film incentive package out of Georgia lured production into the Peachtree State. EUE Screen Gems Executive Vice President Bill Vassar.
"The Walt Disney Company has to invest their dollars in the best way possible and if it was going to cost them less to do the same in Georgia, they had to make the decision to do that."
Vassar says 16 other productions passed over North Carolina last year.
He points to those rejections as reasons why lawmakers need to hike the state's film incentives package from 15 to 25%. Opponents call the incentives unfair because they favor one industry over others.
Do you have insight or expertise on this topic? Please email us, we'd like to hear from you. news@whqr.org.