Louisiana Now Ranks Higher Than CA in Movie Production

According to a new report by the nonprofit group Film L.A., movie production in California declined from 64 percent in 1997 to just eight percent in 2013, ranking it fourth behind Louisiana and the United Kingdom.

That could be why "Hollywood South" was officially named The Movie-Making Capital of the World in 2013.

Last year, 18 films were made here in the Bayou State, outpacing both California and Canada's 15 each. Here in Shreveport-Bossier, we saw the remake of "The Town That Dreaded Sundown," "Dakota's Summer," "Dark Places" and "The Last Word.”

The TV series “Salem” is also being filmed here, and we saw episodes of TV shows “American Pickers,” “The Voice,” “Duck Dynasty,” “Ghost Hunters” and “Toddlers and Tiaras” all featuring our area and the people in it.

It seems our film tax credits have paid off big. Louisiana offers tax incentives to any movie production that spends a certain amount of money on local filming, production and crew members, and the economic impact is huge for us. And there’s much more to come for 2014.