Some of the filming of Colin Firth's new movie "Arthur Newman: Golf Pro" took place in Raleigh and other locations in the Triangle. Photo courtesy of TFC.
By The Raleigh Telegram
RALEIGH – The Triangle Regional Film Commission says that the filming of motion pictures in North Carolina was up in 2011 thanks to incentives offered by the State of North Carolina and the Triangle got to enjoy some of the fruits of that success.
According to the Triangle Regional Film, a new non-profit group that promotes filming in the Research Triangle region, production spending in the region was around $4,000,000 in 2011. The amount spent before 2011 specifically in the Triangle was not measured.
“This rise was capped by the scenes shot in Raleigh and Durham in November for the independent feature Arthur Newman, Golf Pro starring Colin Firth, an Academy Award winner in The King’s Speech and Emily Blunt who has appeared in The Adjustment Bureau and The Devil Wears Prada,” said the Triangle Film Commission in a statement released to the media.
The film commission said that the filming of Arthur Newman, Golf Pro alone accounted for at least reported $500,000 of the total spent in the Triangle Region during the shoot.
“We have seen significant growth in producers’ interest in North Carolina filming locations due to the increased incentives offered this year to the film industry by the state, and we have been able to focus a large amount of that interest in the Triangle region” said Commission Executive Director and filmmaker Rob Shoaf.
According to the North Carolina Film Commission, the new tax incentives available to film makers include a 25% film tax credit for productions that spend over $250,000 in qualified expenses and increased the per project cap to $20 million from $7.5 million. Before the new tax credits were implemented, the film industry had taken quite a fall in the state, as producers flocked to Canada and other locations that offered incentives and tax credits.
Episodes for several TV shows were filmed in North Carolina in 2011, including the eighth season of “One Tree Hill,” “Homeland,” “Revenge,” “Hart of Dixie,” and “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.”
In the Triangle, one of the goals of the creation of the Triangle Film Commission was to catalog more locations in the Triangle so that film producers would be more likely to choose spots in the Triangle for as film sets.
“The Reelscout location search engine, which contains images of locations in the 13 county region served by the Triangle Regional Film Commission, has been expanded from approximately 166 listings at the beginning of the year to over 700 by December,” said the TFC. “This image library is a primary tool in marketing the region to motion picture and television producers nationally and internationally.”
The film commission said that due to some film projects being postponed from 2011, that “spending [in 2012] could easily double from the reported 2011 level.” ::
