New York State renewed the 30% tax credit on film and television production for five years through 2015. For the first time a post production tax credit has been included in the program.

“This new credit will give New York VFX studios a welcome competitive edge,” said Rich Friedlander, co-founder of Brainstorm Digital’s Visual Effects Studio in Brooklyn, NY. “We increasingly saw visual effects post work going to Canada thanks to their Digital Animation or Visual Effects tax credit (DAVE). This new program will encourage work that was filmed in New York to stay through its entire production cycle.”

The New York tax incentives have been responsible for attracting many high-profile projects to the state including Martin Scorsese’s new HBO series Boardwalk Empire. Brainstorm Digital is handling the VFX. “Although Boardwalk Empire is set in prohibition-era Atlantic City, both filming and post production are being done in New York rather than New Jersey. The tax credit certainly was one of the deciding factors,” said Friedlander.

The Post NY Alliance, formed by 14 post production companies based in New York, of which Brainstorm Digital is a founding member, worked with an industry wide coalition to successfully lobby for the introduction of the post production tax credit to the legislation.

No other state has a post production tax credit and incentives for producers who shoot their films outside of New York State to edit in New York State, according to New York State Senator Jose Serrano’s office. This gives New York a tremendous advantage in having a significant post production industry and leading the development in post production work.

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