RESOURCES
Incentives, plainly explained.
Incentive programs are written in the language of tax law and read by people who came up in production. These are the explanations we wish existed when we were the ones trying to close a budget — no jargon, no gatekeeping, and no pretending it's simpler than it is.
Estimate my incentive
Pick your state, put a budget into its calculator and see what the program pays on it, with the arithmetic shown.
Compare states
Run one budget across up to five states side by side — rate, mechanism and what actually reaches your account.
Learn the basics
What incentives are, the four kinds you'll meet, and how to read a program before budgeting around it.
THE INCENTIVES DATABASE
Every US program, with a calculator for each.
36 active programs and 111 uplifts: rates, caps, minimum spend, and what each one actually pays on. Free, no email required, and every record shows the date a person last checked it.
Start here
Three pieces, in order. Together they cover enough to read any program document without getting caught out.
- Fundamentals6 min readHuman verified
Film tax incentives 101 for independent producers
How film tax credits, rebates and grants actually work: what spend qualifies, what a headline rate really covers, and when the cash lands.
- Fundamentals12 min readHuman verified
Film tax credit vs rebate vs grant: what each pays
Four states can advertise 30% and pay four different amounts. How grants, rebates, refundable credits and transferable film credits differ, and what each nets.
- Compliance10 min readHuman verified
Qualified spend: what counts for a film incentive
Your incentive rate applies to qualified spend, not your budget. In-state vendor tests, salary caps, loan-out rules and what an auditor will disallow.
Going deeper
Specific mechanics, specific jurisdictions, and the places productions lose money.
- Compliance10 min readHuman verified
Film tax credit compliance: nine costly mistakes
Nine film tax credit compliance failures that disqualify spend, plus the Georgia, New Mexico and Illinois rules behind each and the deadlines that end a claim.
- Financing10 min readHuman verified
Selling a transferable film tax credit
Transferable film tax credits must be sold before they are cash. How transfer limits, audits and fees turn a headline rate into your production's net.
- Jurisdictions14 min readHuman verified
How the Texas film incentive works (2026)
Texas film incentive 2026: the 5% to 25% grant tiers, the 31% statutory cap, the 35% residency rule, the uplifts, and why non-resident wages earn nothing.
Want this applied to your project?
General guidance only goes so far. Tell us the jurisdiction, the budget, and where you are in the process, and we'll give you the specific version.
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