With financial incentives gone, advocates seek other ways to attract film, TV work to Florida

Film industry advocates are seeking to regroup after Florida's failure to restore financial incentives to attract productions to the state, coupled with the Florida Legislature eliminating the state's Office of Film and Entertainment as a separate agency.

Officials of Film Florida, a statewide not-for-profit entertainment production organization, met in June in Cocoa Beach to discuss the future of the industry and to plan strategy.

When Florida offered either grants or tax rebates to the entertainment industry, Florida was considered one of the top three states for film, television, video and commercial production, according Bonnie King, who was Space Coast film commissioner from 1988 to 2019. The others were California and New York.

"Now, we're not even in the Top 20," said King, who remains active with Film Florida. "We're just left by the wayside."

Details on "Fly Me to the Moon": Watch 'Fly Me to the Moon' movie trailer with Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum, partly shot at Kennedy Space Center

Film Florida President Sandy Lighterman said her organization is "trying to fill the gaps" created by the state's lack of incentives and lack of a separate film office, whose functions last year were merged into the Florida Department of Commerce.

Some counties and cities in Florida, for example, have created local financial incentives funded by either property taxes, or by their tourist development tax on hotel rooms, vacation rentals and other short-term rentals. Broward and Miami-Dade counties are among Florida counties that have instituted such programs. Brevard County has done neither.

"Our office is more than happy to talk about" such incentives within Brevard County, said Meagan Happel, Space Coast film commissioner and public relations manager for the Space Coast Office of Tourism.

Brevard County Commission Chair Jason Steele, who also chairs the Brevard County Tourist Development Council, said he would be supportive of some type of incentive for entertainment productions, funded by the local 5% tourist development tax. But he doesn't know whether there would be support for that from other commissioners.

"There's a tremendous amount of benefit" generated from movies or television shows filmed in a community, Steele said, including residual effects of fans of the production later wanting to visit the area where it was filmed.

Dozens of feature films, television series, documentaries, reality-TV episodes, commercials and public-service announcements have been shot in Brevard County in recent years.

But the Space Coast also lost out on some major productions to other areas — including space-related films and TV series. Some were partially shot in Brevard, with most of the filming done elsewhere. Others were totally shot in other places.

Film Florida estimated lost economic impact to Brevard from just five big projects — set, at least partly, on the Space Coast but largely or totally filmed elsewhere — totaled $96 million. Among the local losses:

• "Astronaut Wives Club" ($25 million).
• "Cocoa Beach" ($16 million).
• "First Man" ($20 million).
• "Hidden Figures" ($10 million).
• "Moonfall" ($25 million).

"It's an economic generator" when productions film in a community, King said, both in jobs and in revenue to local businesses like hotels and restaurants.

Last year, some of "Fly Me to the Moon" was shot locally. The film is a romantic comedy starring Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson that focuses on a scheme to film a fake Apollo 11 moon landing in case the real mission doesn't work. But most of the film ― which is being released in the United States on July 12 ― was shot in Georgia. It had the working title of "Project Artemis" when filming took place.

Statewide, losses from the lack of entertainment industry incentives totaled more than $2 billion, Film Florida estimates, including more than 300,000 lost nights of hotel room rentals, plus more than 150,000 lost cast and crew roles for Floridians.

20 to 25 smaller projects a year in Brevard

Happel said, over the last four years, she handled an average of 20 to 25 film permits a year for productions in Brevard. But most were for smaller projects, such as small independent films, commercials, music videos, or videos produced by churches and other organizations. Also, HGTV has filmed locally for "House Hunters" and other real estate-focused shows.

The film permits themselves are free. But county or municipal law enforcement, fire, emergency medical, lifeguard or road-closing services generally come with a fee, Happel said.

Lighterman said an incentive that some Florida communities have offered is waiving fees for law enforcement services needed during a film shoot.

All but 17 states offer incentives

According to a Film Florida database, Florida is one of only 17 states not to have financial incentives for productions — and the only state in the Southeast not to have them.

The last major statewide incentive program in Florida ― which offered production companies business tax credits that also could be sold to other companies — ended in 2016.

Lighterman — who also is film commissioner in Broward County — said no incentive bill was introduced in the 2024 legislative session. Bills were introduced in 2023 in the House and Senate to create an entertainment industry tax credit program, but they didn't get out of committee.

Lighterman said Film Florida now is "doing information-gathering" as to whether it would be advisable to push such legislation in 2025.

If the incentives were restored in Florida, Lighterman said, "it would be crazy-busy in the state" for entertainment production. But, she adds that "I think it's challenging up there" in Tallahassee to get an incentive bill approved, with limited funding available.

In the meantime, Lighterman said Film Florida is working on its own marketing and advertising program to attract film and television productions to the state, assuring the industry that "we're open for business."

Dave Berman is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Berman at dberman@floridatoday.com , on X at @bydaveberman and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/dave.berman.54

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: With financial incentives gone, advocates seek other ways to attract film, TV work to Florida