Big breaks by the bayou

Big breaks by the bayou Image Big breaks by the bayou | Schumacher's Shreveport shoot | Big Easy location managers tackle difficult tasks

"Our goal is not to be like Los Angeles. we want to be our own Los Angeles," says Sherri McConnell, Louisiana's director of entertainment industry development. Judging from the bonanza of big-time film and TV shoots landing in the Bayou State, it wouldn't come as a surprise if L.A. itself would like to be a bit more like the other LA, where les bons temps continue to roll for the state's incentivized production biz.

One of the first states out of the gate to offer lucrative tax breaks to entice Hollywood shoots, Louisiana is firmly entrenched just behind L.A. and New York as the country's third-busiest entertainment production center. Over the past 18 months, in the wake of a 5% hike in its transferable tax credit to 30%, the state has hit a new plateau, attracting a slew of big-budget shoots.

Recent hits "The Expendables," starring Sylvester Stallone, and "Red," with Bruce Willis, both lensed in Louisiana. Television shows filming there include HBO's "Treme," now starting work on its second season; Disney Channel's hit "Imagination Movers"; and MTV's 24th season of "The Real World," set in New Orleans.

Another big catch: Warner Bros.' $150 million comicbook tentpole "The Green Lantern," which took over the city's new studio complex, second Line Stages, for eight months beginning in January.

Already in prep at the Fox Studios in Sydney, the production abruptly departed when a sudden sharp rise in Australia's currency pumped up its budget by $20 million. After considering alternatives, the producers gave New Orleans the nod — not long after Louisiana raised its film tax incentives last July. "They took a big chance coming here," says second Line owner and developer Marie Brennan. "We were a big, messy construction site with mud everywhere when we rented to them, but everything was finished by the time they arrived."

The success of the shoot has set off a swirl of rumors that Christopher Nolan's "Batman 3" will set up shop at second Line next April.

Meanwhile, "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," the latest installment in Summit Entertainment's franchise, began filming in September at the just completed Raleigh Celtic Media Center, situated on 23 acres in Baton Rouge. And Universal's sci-fi actioner "Battleship" began principal photography at the facility in mid-October.

Not all the films are budget-busters. "Trespass," starring Nicolas Cage and Nicole Kidman as a kidnapped husband and wife, has been filming in Shreveport, situated far from the gulf. (The town grew as a production center after Katrina hit New Orleans.)

Given all this activity, Louisiana is closing in on a record-shattering year. through mid-October, 126 projects had already applied for permits to shoot in the state, up from 105 for all of 2009.

The numbers aren't all in yet, but Chris Stelly, head of the state's film and TV office, estimates in-state spend for all of 2010 will be $807 million, a significant uptick over last year's total of $495 million. overall budgets for the films and TV projects in which some or all of the shoot takes place in the Bayou State should hit $1.3 billion. that would be up by over 80% from 2009, highlighting the increase in the magnitude of the productions choosing to film in Louisiana this year.

Last year started sluggishly for Louisiana, partly because of producer uncertainty over the future of the state's then-25% tax credit program, which was scheduled to be whittled down to 20% in 2011 and 15% in 2012.

Instead, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and the state Legislature reversed course and agreed to boost the incentive to 30% so Louisiana could stay competitive with states like Michigan, which had put in place a 42% rebate. in addition, the program has no phase-out provision, and there are no caps on the size of a project that can qualify for the tax credits. plus, the state agreed to buy back tax credits at 85