Economic Incentives and Workforce Gaps: Rethinking Georgia’s Film Tax Credit Model

In the past two decades, Georgia has become the epicenter of many film and television productions, rivaling Hollywood in many blockbuster productions. However, Georgia also has influence within the award-winning sector tied to these productions, such as the Peabody Awards, which has played a major role in honoring excellence within storytelling that properly reflects current social feelings about a popular concern/dilemma. In its success, Georgia has a very clear problem with how tax credits are used to fuel the workforce, often leaving many Georgians without a long-term plan for the workforce.

One of the main reasons as to why the film industry is so important to Georgia’s tax credit system, is because productions will receive 20%-30% in transferable tax credits, causing many studios to look to Georgia for a filming location. They can shoot  productions at a lower cost, and cities like Atlanta often spend $700,000 through grants like The Creative Industries Grant Fund. The state of Georgia sees an overall benefit in how much money is raised through these productions, with numbers reaching as high as $4.4 billion in 2022. 

Nonetheless, the answer as to who is truly benefitting in Georgia is still unclear. This tax credit program is great in attracting productions, though there is one population who islargely ignored: the workforce. In various project-based jobs, a stable workforce is needed to sustain quality, however, in the film industry, many workers are hired for short durations of time, and then are in search for other work as soon as filming wraps. This creates a cycle of temporary employment for these workers, leaving many Georgia workers  unable to create a long-term plan for employment in this industry, which was exacerbated through the acting strikes of 2024.

This is a critical imbalance that Georgia has not solved because with the acting strike concluding, the state is attracting more productions than ever. Millions are spent on these tax incentives for producers, but there is nothing being done for investing in building long-term careers in Georgia for those looking to break out into the film industry.

To bridge this gap between job security and general support, there are three major solutions to this problem: State-supported pipelines, organized partnerships, and career pathways. This approach requires Georgia to abandon its model of emphasizing the production over all else, and to search for local talent first. Georgia has many schools and universities like SCAD that offer nationally-renowned film programs for students. However, these programs are operated separately from the industry, and a simple solution would be to connect the two, so that students graduate with knowledge of the networks that they can access. Senator Jon Ossoff has  worked to try and capitalize on the growing workforce within the film industry, suggesting that “Registered apprenticeships can provide job training and a pathway to careers for those interested in jobs in the film and media industry. However, the film and media industry has struggled to access apprenticeship resources.”

For example, Georgia has more than 10,000 active apprenticeship programs, which can easily be boosted through directly working with production companies. This would require the companies to be participatory in producing proper workforce incentives, like a minimum hiring percentage. A partnership with the Georgia Film Office,  similar to the Georgia Film Academy, would help to keep many jobs afloat. This would help to match highly trained and educated workers to a field that would offer assistance in upcoming productions, and connect them with professionals.

Additionally, career pathways help students  land technical roles in these productions, so that they can work on skills in set creation/production, lighting, sound design, and editing an entire film/episodes of a television show. Georgia already has various programs and courses for students  majoring in film production, but does have enough in its entertainment budget (with projects collectively bringing in $8.5 billion in the past year) to fund training programs. With these programs, Georgia has the ability to strengthen its workforce with skills that can allow individuals to become more successful and in-demand for other projects.

If Georgia is able to build a sustainable industry for its constituents, it won’t just be able to attract more productions, but will be able to build a proper success story. This industry has been trying to reach proper stability for years, and without the implementation of distributing economic benefits equally, efficiency will suffer.

Courtney  is a fourth-year at the University of Georgia studying political science and public administration. She is a Communications Fellow.