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CAPE FEAR MEMORIAL BRIDGE CLOSURE: UPDATES, RESOURCES, AND CONTEXT

Film production in 2012 already beats 2011 record in NC

AiClassEland at en.wikibooks [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], from Wikimedia Commons

Film production in North Carolina this year alone has already outpaced last year’s record-setting numbers. 

As WHQR’s Rachel Lewis Hilburn reports, officials with the North Carolina Film Office credit tax incentive packages with the production boom.

Thanks to incentives, passed in 2010, productions receive a 25 percent refundable tax credit if they spend at least a quarter of a million dollars in-state. 

Just halfway through this calendar year, more than 35 productions have plans to film in the Tar Heel state.   That’s according to a statement released by Governor Beverly Perdue.  Projects already on the docket could spend more than $300 million -- while creating about 15,000 jobs. 

TV production is also on the rise with the second season of the award-winning series “Homeland” and two new series, “Banshee” and “Revolution,” as well as the most recent season of “The Bachelorette.”  Several national commercials have also shot here. 

But it’s not just big studio productions – such as Iron Man 3 – that are on the rise.  Lower-budget projects that don’t meet minimum requirements to get the tax incentive are also increasing.

Rachel hosts and produces CoastLine, an award-winning hourlong conversation featuring artists, humanitarians, scholars, and innovators in North Carolina. The show airs Wednesdays at noon and Sundays at 4 pm on 91.3 FM WHQR Public Media. It's also available as a podcast; just search CoastLine WHQR. You can reach her at rachellh@whqr.org.