With the new year in full spring, legislatures across the country are re-thinking and re-tooling their budgets, drawing up new pieces of legislation while also overturning old ones. In the state of Massachusetts, since it was first enacted in 2006, Massachusetts has provided filmmakers with a lucrative package of tax incentives, namely: a 25% production credit, a 25% payroll credit, and a sales tax exemption. Since then, the state has seen dozens of major motion pictures, television series, independent films, and other creative projects bring their crews to the state. Also since that time, and even beforehand, a number of committees and coalitions have formed within the state in order to help facilitate these projects.
The MASSCreative petition is currently collecting signatures in hopes of urging Governor Patrick to restore funding for the Commonwealth’s creative community on or before this Friday, January 18th. The Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which distributes state money to arts and cultural organizations, has been a long-time supporter of the Massachusetts Production Coalition, making many of programs and initiatives possible. Over the past decade, the MCC’s budget has been cut in half, leaving many organizations scrambling to keep their programs running and accessible.
As witnessed by the recent announcement made regarding increasing taxes in order to cover the transportation infrastructure deficit, Governor Patrick is currently in the midst of preparing his FY2014 budget for release at the end of this month. From then until July, the Governor, the Senate, and the House of Representatives will be debating how to allocate the estimated $32 billion in state revenue.
In you are concerned about the allocation of funds for MCC, and want to help make sure that more films and television show productions come to the Bay State, show your support for MASSCreative and sign the petition urging Governor Patrick to restore the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) budget to it’s former totals of $12.5+ million, by increasing it $3 million.
To sign the petition, click here.
