Governor Roy Cooper has announced that five new television and film projects will receive money from the North Carolina Film and Entertainment grant program. But some in the industry believe more needs to be done to spark filmmaking in the Triad.
Projects benefiting from the grant program include To Her With Love, a made-for-television Hallmark movie slated to film in Rowan and Mecklenburg counties.
AGB and Her Monster is a feature film that will shoot in the greater Charlotte area. Other films and TV series will be produced in Wilmington and southeastern North Carolina.
State officials say that all told, the projects could produce in-state spending of $107 million while creating close to 5,000 job opportunities.
Rebecca Clark is executive director of the North Carolina Piedmont Triad Film Commission. She has high praise for Governor Cooper's efforts to revive the industry after state lawmakers slashed film incentives in 2015. But she laments that the Triad is not benefitting from the current grant program. She says this is due in part to changes made by lawmakers.
"There are two union-designated production centers in North Carolina, and that's Wilmington and Charlotte, so those five projects that are benefitting from the film grants are going to those two production centers," says Clark.
Clark says one of her goals is to add regional film incentives to the state's package of enticements.