There’s a line in the Enter the Dragon spoof A Fistful Of Yen in Kentucky Fried Movie where the villainous Dr. Klahn wanting to punish a guard for failing to do his job yells, “Take him to Detroit!”.

Now the film industry may not have such a negative view of The Wolverine State. Michigan has just passed legislation aimed at aggressively bringing film and television production with some of the most lucrative production incentives in the country to make Michigan one of the most financially attractive states in the nation to make movies.

The key bill in the legislative package gives film studios a refundable credit of up to 42 percent on production expenses in the state with a minimum local spend of only $50,000. Here is a list of some of the recently passed state production incentives for Michigan.

• 40% cash rebate, across the board on Michigan expenditures, with a spending threshold of $50,000. Michigan will add an extra 2% if the company films in one of the 103 Core Communities in Michigan. Click here for a map of the 103 Core Communites.

• Labor and Crew: 40%-42% Resident, 30% Non-resident.

• Tax credit for investment in film production infrastructure.

• Extends MEGA tax credits to production companies.

• Free use of state property.

• Gives production companies a workforce development tax credit for hiring and training current Michigan crewmembers to a higher level.

• The only cap will be a maximum of $2 million salary per employee

• *There is no other cap and no sunset.

• Allows for low interest MSF loans for qualified film industry productions.

• Hotel occupancy tax exemptions available.

Michigan has a mostly union crewbase with several hundred crew members the majority of which are in metropolitan Detroit and the remaining in areas such as Grand Rapids, Traverse City and Lansing.

For those interested in learning about filming in Michigan, contact the Michigan Film Commission.

Michigan Film Office
702 West Kalamazoo Street
P.O. Box 30739
Lansing, MI 48909

Director:

Janet Lockwood

Director
Phone: (517) 373-0638 or (800) 477-3456
Fax: (517) 241-2930

The Michigan package also covers commercials, TV shows, documentaries, video games and other film work. Good luck and see you in Detroit.