Tax Cuts for The Film Industry & their effect on Corporate Housing
August 23rd 2012
In 2010 the government of British Columbia, Canada announced huge tax incentives for filmmakers inciting them to move their business to Vancouver and the surrounding area, they quickly saw results, the province now generates over 1 Billion dollars in revenue per year from the movie industry alone. Following this announcement, it seems like every major province and state in North America quickly caught on and jumped on the bandwagon offering even better incentives to get a piece of the film industry pie.
“B.C.’s film and TV industry is worth over $1 billion dollars a year, but industry insiders say other provinces and states are luring production companies away by offering better tax incentives” said Barry McDivitt of Global News.
It isn’t just actors that are being relocated to these various film locations;
“We currently have 385 people,” said Disney’s Lynn D’Albertanson and “about 50% of the people we hire have to relocate from other places, because we can’t find the talent here”.
The carpentry business sees a lot of demand due to the film industry, which means Corporate Housing Providers get overwhelmed with booking requests when big productions come to town. This phenomenon has inspired a startup in Michigan called filmcrewhomes.com to specialize in accomodating guests from this industry only. There is also a great opportunity to house film crews on a short-term basis during major film festivals such as the Toronto Film Festival. If you visit one of their online forums, you’ll quickly realize that the people involved in filmmaking have long memories for past experiences, the service they obtained, the people they met and events attended. Make a good impression with your guests to inspire loyalty, and you may get repeat business at your different destinations where you own or manage properties due to future productions from the studios you’ve established a relationship with. They might even use your properties to film Hollywood Blockbusters ! Similarly to what we’re doing for the video game development industry we @ CorporateStays.com are currently developing products and services to specially cater to our clients from the movie business.
What do you think? Ideas for Corporate Housing Suppliers? What are your tips for relocated film crews?
by Hamza A.
