ST. LOUIS — A tax credit that was reinstated in 2023 as the Missouri Motion Media Tax Credit Incentive Act is now helping make the St. Louis region an up-and-coming filming location.
From providing production needs to logistics and lodging, the tax credit is attracting new film productions to the area. “Firelight,” which was slated for production in Atlanta earlier this year, instead shot the project in St. Louis within 19 days.
“When you’re looking to film on location, the producers and the directors, they’re all looking for tax incentives,” said Kelley Hiatt with the St. Louis Film Office. “Most states do have tax incentives, so we were kind of out of the game since 2013 when we lost our tax incentive. Since it’s been reinstated, we’ve had incredible opportunity here. We’ve had a lot of people coming through, and we’ve got some really great productions coming to fruition.
Hiatt also said regaining these incentives has been great and hopes the momentum continues. Hiatt said 29 Missouri projects have been awarded tax credit and 20 of them were produced in St. Louis.