Economic Impact of the Georgia Entertainment Industry Tax Credit
Image Credit: Marvel Studios
Client: Georgia Screen Entertainment Coalition
Location: State of Georgia, US
SPI recently completed a multi-year economic impact evaluation of Georgia’s Entertainment Industry Tax Credit to investigate and quantify the role played by the film and television production incentive in Georgia’s economy.
This study assessed the economic impact of the incentive, looking at direct, indirect and induced impacts, as well as how the incentive is leveraging infrastructure investment in production studios and other facilities. The study also explored how the impacts of production are being generated for vendors and crew.
The key insights include:
Georgia offers a strong incentive, a variety of locations, highly developed studio infrastructure, a skilled and deep workforce, and a relatively affordable cost of living. Together, these elements have been fundamental to the growth of the film and television production industry in the state
Film and television production in Georgia has boomed since fiscal year (FY) 2012. Spending in the state more than doubled between FY 2012 ($890 million) and FY 2016 ($2.03 billion), and then doubled again from FY 2016 to FY 2022 ($4.39 billion). Production expenditure has increased at an average annual rate of over 17% between FY 2012 and FY 2023
The growth of Georgia’s film and television production industry has spurred a major expansion in studio infrastructure in the state. Georgia has approximately 5.7 million square feet of dedicated stage space across 212 stages. Of this total, 2.6 million square feet is dedicated stage space across 141 purpose-built stages. A further 1.4 million square feet across 77 new stages is planned across six proposed studio developments
The strong increase in production activity in Georgia has been accompanied by significant private sector investment in studio development. Between FY 2012 and FY 2022, $1.28 billion was spent on constructing new studio facilities, expanding existing facilities, and converting existing buildings in Georgia. There is $2.93 billion investment in studio construction planned for FY 2023 to FY 2027, and studio owners and operators confirmed that 100% of the investment is dependent on a stable tax incentive
The combined economic impact generated for Georgia by incentivised production activity and non-incentivized studio construction activity leveraged by the Georgia Entertainment Industry Tax Credit has been significant. In FY 2022, the combined impact generated $8.55 billion in total economic output, $5.54 billion in total value added (GVA), $3.54 billion in total labour income and supported 59,700 jobs
Incentivised production activity and non-incentivised studio construction activity leveraged by the Georgia Entertainment Industry Tax Credit have delivered a combined economic return on investment (RoI) of 6.3. This means that every $1 invested through the incentive program, generates $6.30 in terms of additional economic value from direct, indirect, and induced effects.
Download the final report, executive summary and key insights documents here.
Further information on SPI’s impact studies can be found here.
If you would like to hear more about this study, please contact SPI Consultant Kayleigh Hughes on kayleigh@o-spi.com