Tax incentives are only part of the equation say top location managers

Location managers and film industry experts spoke about the changes in filming locations and the importance of tax incentives at a panel yesterday (June 27) at the Mediterrane Flim Festival in Malta.

While tax incentives are a part of the equation for choosing a location, they can also create specific problems for location managers and productions.

"California has a really good incentive. But you've got to film 75% of production days in California," Michael Glaser, a USA based locations manager. "You keep finding these locations that are outside state lines.

"You trying to do what's best for the film, but you also know that it's a pretty big hit financially, if you find one location that'll put you over that limit."

Directors also still choose locations without necessarily making use of the incentives. 

Tanja Ladovic Blasevic of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre said that Netflix's The Grey Man shot in one of their national parks without filing for the tax incentives, as did the upcoming season of the TV show Empress.

For The Suicide Squad, location manager Peter Gluck said: "Producers wanted to make Puerto Rico work and they sent me there. But as soon as the production designer [Beth Mickle] and director [James Gunn] saw pictures from Panama that was it." While Panama does have a rebate of 25%, the driving factor in decision making was the look of the area.