Utah Officials Attempting To Bring More Movie & TV Productions To The State

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A bill was introduced into the legislature in hopes to attract more moviemakers to seek out Utah locations for filming, reported 2 KUTV. According to Jeff Johnson, president of the Motion Pictures Association of Utah, movies bring in money that benefits the entire state.

About $48 million was spent on movie and television productions in the state last year. Yellowstone filmed a few episodes in the state. In addition, Disney's ever-popular High School Musical series and a number of Hallmark movies were shot here in Utah.

One thing that helps to attract filmmakers to the state are the incentives that they receive for filming here. Johnson explained, "We have actually a really good program and it works. The problem is it is a little underfunded."

The program is currently funded with $8.3 million, but according to Johnson, the funding needs to be higher. "We can't keep some of the bigger projects here because we just don't have enough money to keep them here."

One study shows that for each tax dollar spent on the Motion Pictures Incentive Program, $7 is returned to Utah's economy. Over the last five years, the incentive has generated over $614 million in net output.

The Motion Pictures Association said in a statement that the state "has watched production companies, including ViacomCBS, Disney, Netflix, Amazon, and even Utah’s own BYUtv, take major film and TV productions with their million-dollar budgets and hundreds of jobs away from Utah to other states."

Johnson said that if you support S.B. 69 to contact your local legislator and let them know.


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