New York's Mayor Bloombergyesterday [11] signed into law a bill that expands the city's 5% tax credit onbelow-the-line expenses for qualified film and television productions.

The New York State 2007 executive budget allocates $30m in annual funding forthe tax credit scheme through 2011, complementing a $60m state allocation for a10% tax credit for the same period.

The law continues the state-wide Empire State Film Production Credit programmeintroduced in August 2004, which also authorised the city to provide a filmproduction tax credit.

Municipal leaders duly enacted a 5% city tax credit for qualified film andtelevision productions in January 2005, and authorities say the move has beenso successful that by March of this year the programme had reached its $50mallocation and ploughed $1.5bn into the local economy.

The New York State 2007 executive budget included a proposed expansion of boththe state and city tax credits for film and television production - up to$60m annually for state credits and up to $30m annually for the city credits,with local opt-in. The increased state and city allocations will beretroactive to 2006 and run until 2011.

Studio projects currently shooting in New York include Sony's Spider-Man 3, Warner Bros' thriller The Brave starring Jodie Foster, and 20th CenturyFox's adventure Jumper starringJamie Bell.

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