In the past year, TV and film production companies spent about $880 million in Georgia, up from about $690 million the previous year, the state’s film office said Monday.
The office said 333 films, TV shows, commercials and music videos were shot across the state during the 2012 fiscal year in what’s another indication of the film industry’s growing importance in metro Atlanta’s economy.
State and local officials are quick to credit the growth to a 2008 tax break that offers TV and film companies that spend at least $500,000 on a project up to 30 percent of the production’s budget in tax credits.
Since then, film studios and spinoff businesses have sprouted from the city to the exurbs.
And some local governments are chipping in, too.
The latest example came last week when Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development agency, voted to send EUE/Screen Gems at Lakewood up to $500,000 to offset the construction of two soundstages. The studio has housed dozens of productions since it opened in 2010.
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