Hello Everyone,
 
Mark your calenders for next week, Mayor Cedric B. Glover would like for you to attend a pre-meeting luncheon in Baton Rouge @ noon, Wednesday, June 11th (place to be announced). Then we will meet @ 2 PM at the capital. Here are a few bullet points for you to discuss with your legislators and other elected officials on why we need to keep our infrastructure tax credits in place and also evaluate our current production tax credits so that we remain competitive in the U.S. and internationally. Here are a few key findings regarding Louisiana's  film industry  taken from the State's 2005 Economic Research Report and some additional positives.
 
                                   Key Economic Findings from the Economic Research Report:
 
 
      •         Employment in Louisiana's film industry has grown 23 percent per year since 2001 the highest in the nation.
 
•         The Louisiana industry supported 5,437 jobs in 2003. By 2005, an additional 13,445 jobs were created.
 
•         Wages have increased more than 31 percent each year.
 
     •         Louisiana is the leading film location outside of the traditional production hubs of California and New York.
               
•        The study formulates that the economic multiplier for the motion picture industry is $1.85 for every one dollar spent. This does NOT account for ancillary spending outside of the normal production activity and is very conservative. This multiplier places the motion picture industry's economic impact in the top 10% of all industries in Louisiana.
                                       
                                                       Additional Positives:
 
•         In 2003, film spending added $7.4 million to the state economy in the form of wages, profits, sales taxes, etc. In 2005, this rose to nearly $344 million. Since the program’s inception in 2002, production expenditures from motion pictures made in Louisiana exceed $ 2 Billion.
     
     •       Over $204 million in direct production payroll wages have been earned by Louisiana residents.


The links below are members of the Louisiana State House of Reps and the Senate with their contact info, e-mail addresses and their phone #'s. Call and/or email your legislators and let them know that you would like for the state to hold a special session to renew the Infrastructure tax credits for the film industry and evaluate the existing production film tax credits in order to be competitive in the U.S. If this legislation sunsets it will have a negative impact on future productions if we do not continue to grow our infrastructure. Please call and/or forward to others such as vendors, crew, extras, hoteliers, restaurants, realtors, apartments, etc.... so we can get the momentum going for support to draw a great crowd in Baton Rouge on June 11th.
        
http://house.louisiana.gov/H_Reps/H_Reps_FullInfo.asp  - House of Representatives
     
http://senate.legis.state.la.us/Senators/offices.asp - Senate
 
 
Please RSVP to me if you will be able to make it to the luncheon (place to be announced) and/or the capital by next Monday, June 9th, by 5 PM.  Thanks so much and please get this out to as many folks as possible.
 
Arlena Acree
 
Director of Film, Media, and Entertainment
City of Shreveport
318-673-7515