More celebrities might soon be able to star in films made in North Carolina.
There is currently a $20 million pay cap per project and a $1 million per-person cap for films produced in North Carolina, said Aaron Syrett, director of N.C. Film Office.
Eliminating this cap would open up new opportunities for the state’s film industry. It would mean larger films, more jobs and more money spent in North Carolina, Syrett said.
“We’re certainly not maximizing the number of jobs we could be creating,” he said.
Eliminating the pay cap could mean tens of thousands of jobs in the industry rather than thousands.
Syrett said the issue is primarily about making North Carolina’s film industry stronger.
“It’s not about getting a movie made in North Carolina,” he said. “It’s about most importantly sustaining an industry that’s been in North Carolina
for years.”
The North Carolina film industry was once one of the leading in the nation in the eighties and nineties but has lost its hold since then, Syrett said.
It has great potential that is being held back by the pay cap. The state has the necessary infrastructure, people and production level that many states don’t have, he said.
The pay cap is a limiting factor in the types of productions that can come to the state, said Johnny Griffin, director of Wilmington Regional Film Commissions, Inc. Removing this factor would mean more money and more jobs for the state, he said.
“The states that are the most successful right now and are doing the most business don’t have a cap,” he said.
North Carolina needs to eliminate its pay cap in order to stay in the game in the film industry, Griffin said.
“All of this is basically a result of competition and watching what’s happening in other places — what’s causing business to not come here or to leave here,” he said.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
