The Department of Commerce recently released an economic impact study on the state of the film industry in Montana. Some of the report’s key findings:
1. In just six short years since the Montana Film Office committed to marketing Montana as a production-friendly, business savvy shooting location more than $103 million dollars in production expenditures and tourism revenue have been placed in state coffers and, more importantly, communities around the state.
2. With an ROI of over $89 brought to the state for every $1 spent marketing the state to the new media industries, Montana’s cachet as a desirable, on-location production center is evident.
3. Montana is quickly being left out of key production conversations because of its out-of-date approach to business, specifically film production incentives.
4. Larger budget productions continue to take their job hours and dollars to states offering incentives in excess of 20-25%.
5. It’s time that Montana stop accepting its current place on the sidelines of production and stand, once again, as a giant among states in both production possibility and business savvy.
