‘The Iron Claw,’ ‘American Horror Story’ Prove Potential For Louisiana-Set Projects

What do Cannes competition films “Kinds of Kindness,” “American Horror Story,” “The Iron Claw,” “Hit Man” and “Pitch Perfect” have in common? These are just a smattering of the projects that have utilized Louisiana’s production resources over the decades thanks to the state’s robust incentive program.

In the early 1990s, the state recognized the power of Hollywood and started luring productions to the South with all it had to offer. The program was revitalized in 2002 and continues to grow, encompassing everything from pre- to post-production.

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The dollars make sense in Louisiana. The state offers a base 25% production credit, with options to add on from there. A Louisiana-set screenplay nets 10% more credit, with 5% extra tacked on for filming outside of New Orleans. The incentives transfer to post-production, too, with an extra 5% if 50% of the VFX work is completed in state or there’s a $1 million spend. The current rates stand through July 2031.

Katie Patton Pryor, who serves as the executive director of the Baton Rouge film commission, says productions working in state benefit from the longevity of the industry in Louisiana. Not only is the infrastructure already in place, but they’re adept at execution on the logistical end as well: It’s just as easy to close roads as it is to secure the permits to film on them.

Pryor points out, too, that the incentive for filming outside of New Orleans kicks in when working in the capital city of Baton Rouge, just over an hour away. It doesn’t take much to save more.

“If you really want to approach the industry, top to bottom, as an economic plan, you have to plan to get productions in, and then that’s got to go well. You need the infrastructure and people,” says Pryor, adding “a lot of that rests in training.”

Since 1972, the nonprofit New Orleans Video Access Center, colloquially known as NOVAC, has educated and trained students for work within the entertainment industry. “There’s opportunity up and down the age bracket,” Pryor notes, whether it’s a traditional-aged student coming into the program, or a beautician transferring 20 years of more conventional livelihood into industry-specific hair and makeup.

Baton Rouge also will feature an innovative production training high school, projected to open in 2025.

Chris Stelly, executive group director of Louisiana Entertainment and Digital Media, says the benefits for productions are more than budgetary, noting the importance of the state’s state-of-the-art soundstages, skilled workforce and state-wide infrastructure. “When you throw in ‘the everything else,’ our success is built on the ‘everything else,’” he says.

Once productions move outside of Hollywood, they have a slew of cast and crew who suddenly need housing. Stephanie Clarke runs Luxe Spaces, a company that caters to Baton Rouge and New Orleans as a one-stop shop for housing at all price points.

Clarke notes that a newer high-end apartment complex in the vibrant Baton Rouge downtown area has been really popular with productions, and with a recent dip in rental fees there are even greater savings opportunities now.

It’s not all work, though. “We’re really in line with other cities as far as our downtown areas being great,” says Clarke. “When you finally get home from a long day’s shoot [you don’t] have to get back in your rental car. There are a whole lot of opportunities in downtown Baton Rouge to live, play, work, shop and dine all within walking distance.”

Beyond the vibrancy of areas like downtown Baton Rouge, production scouting teams may have other questions that need to be addressed.

“Someone asked me if they need to do alligator safety training with their crew,” Pryor chuckles. “No, you’re filming in downtown Baton Rouge; alligators aren’t just going to walk up to you.”

Dispelling stereotypes about the state is a mission. In addition to the expected swamps and moss, there’s also historic architecture, beautiful universities and diverse landscapes. Filming in winter looks like summer elsewhere, and the state can also work for winter wonderland scenes thanks to creative crew skills.

Beyond the budgetary benefits and after-work perks come concrete production needs for infrastructure in terms of stages and crew, production and post. That means ensuring there are multiple soundstages throughout the area, as well as established post-production houses, like the Louisiana branch of Crafty Apes.

The Ranch Film Studios, located just outside of New Orleans in Chalmette, was founded not only with an eye on current production needs, but educating and training for the future as well.

Jason Waggenspack, co-founder and CEO of the Ranch Film Studios, also serves as president of Film Louisiana, a nonprofit political advocacy organization that strives to help secure policy and procedure and keep the film industry bankrolled.

Film Louisiana is “all about the sustainability of the industry in the state,” he says. For example, ensuring a percentage of the tax credit dollars go into training a Louisiana-based workforce.  While Film Louisiana doesn’t host any trainings, they help direct the funds to organizations that do, including NOVAC.

Waggenspack says the state touts “25 universities and higher education facilities that teach digital media and [feeds] directly to the film industry.”

He adds that Film Louisiana should be credited for many things, including converting tax credit dollars to training dollars for crew, and also a five-year certification for scripted, episodic television that replaced a season-by-season certification.

To date, the state can pinpoint one billion benefits to the program — $1 billion, that is, spent at local businesses. That doesn’t include an additional $2.1 billion in tourism that can be credited directly back to in-state production work. A recent study by the Louisiana lieutenant governor’s office indicated nearly half of the state’s tourists were inspired to visit based on a film or television show.

As one of the top states in the country for production, and with the longest-running incentive program in the U.S., Louisiana’s legislators clearly know what works.

In addition to being first with incentives, the state was also the first to bring the various domestic film commissions together. Pryor co-founded Film USA, a trade organization meant to unify the commissions with a shared vision and outlook for national production.

“The U.S. is really the only production-heavy country in the world that doesn’t have a federal film office,” says Pryor. “This is a cause near and dear to my heart. I lecture at [Louisiana State University] about the power of storytelling in the world and what it does as far as economic and cultural power. As a country, we’ve held this position and invested so long in the industry that we need to pay attention to this industry because the global market is changing.”

For Louisiana, a state long at the forefront of film and television production, that means continuing to build upon previous successes in crew training and infrastructure in order to better fulfill the needs of an ever-growing American export.

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