![]() “It’s just culturally really important in our time, in our day and age when people get so much of their cultural stimulation from screens, from film and television and digital content, to see your city or your community represented on screen and original stories that are relatable and also to just see the creativity and the uniqueness of your own location and hometown,” said Zeiger. Zeiger explains that this was done because it’s important to the city and the state that productions are filmed here. These tax incentives were extended for another decade earlier this year by Gov. The tax credit can cover Illinois production costs, Illinois salaries up to $500,000 per worker, and non-resident salaries up to $500,000 per worker for up to nine employees in certain positions, and it has an additional 15% credit for salaries of employees from economically disadvantaged areas. It’s when the state passed the tax credit in the mid-2000s that made Illinois a very attractive place financially to shoot … and that led to Cinespace deciding to expand here,” said Novak. ![]() “Probably one of the biggest factors is the tax credit, and that’s really what kind of kick-started the production that we’ve got going on now. Novak says that even with the difference in climate, Chicago has been able to stay competitive because of the Illinois Film Services Tax Credit for productions that film in the state. He says it can be harder to film year-round, but local crews are well-equipped to handle the changing temperatures. Novak explains that Chicago does have one disadvantage compared to other major filming cities like Los Angeles or Atlanta: the weather. I think the other thing that’s advantageous is we have really experienced crews here, so if you’re looking to hire local talent, there’s tons of it,” said Novak. “I think it’s a very film-friendly city in terms of not just the people, but the infrastructure, the city government and all of that. He explains that Chicago’s film industry has been able to stay resilient because of the numerous benefits the city offers to productions of all sizes. Gary Novak is the director of the School of Cinematic Arts at DePaul. I mean, we’re still basically more or less comparable to where we were pre-pandemic, which is great news, considering what we went towards,” said Zeiger. “I think that there’s going to be more and more moving forward, but I think this is just a slight dip. Zeiger says that the film office is aware of last year’s slight decrease in filming permit applications, but that this is not surprising since things are still leveling out coming out of the pandemic. ![]() It’s relatively rare for someone to be denied a permit,” said Zeiger. So, we go into it with the attitude of, we want filmmakers, producers, production companies to be able to do what they want to do. “Priority number one for the Chicago Film Office is to permit production in the city of Chicago. Jonah Zeiger, deputy commissioner of the Chicago Film Office, explains that the city ends up approving most filming permit applications. ![]()
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