Empire State Tries to Go Hollywood

A tax credit from Sen. Kemp Hannon, R-Garden City, has been proposed to help writers secure jobs on television shows and movies. On Wednesday he introduced a bill (SB 4199) that would amend the Empire State Film Production Credit to include writer salaries.
His bill's memo argues that productions are already drawn to the state, where they take advantage of a 30 percent tax credit on qualifying production costs. Unfortunately for New York writers, this credit hasn't generated many opportunities for them. This fact was demonstrated by the fact that in 2008 there were 15 major television productions in the state, which employed a total of 122 writers, but only 24 of them were from New York.
The inclusion of writers into the Empire State Film Credit would bring New York into competition with states like Connecticut and Michigan that allow writers to qualify.
The proposal from Hannon would either be capped at $50,000 per writer on the amount of the credit that may be claimed or lifted entirely by the hiring of a minority or woman writer when more than three writers are hired.