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Bill would give movie companies tax incentives to come to Montana

Posted at 1:21 PM, Mar 21, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-21 15:21:52-04

State lawmakers are talking about getting movie companies to come to the Treasure State with the help of a new bill.

Right now, movie companies do not receive any tax incentives to come to Montana, but House Bill 293 would change that.

The bill would provide a tax credit to production companies for certain media production expenditures made in the state.

Montana is one of ten states that does not have tax credits for filmmakers, which has kept many away.

JP Gabriel, owner of Filmlites Montana, said the film industry does many things for the economy.

He gave the example of what happened to tourism and real estate after ‘A River Runs Through It’ was released.

“It was an incredible boom to a lot of businesses and we still see it today, especially with all the fly shops, the lifestyle that is out here and people want to capture the romance they saw in that,” Gabriel said.

The Montana House of Representatives voted to send the bill to the floor last week.

Click here to read more about House Bill 293.