Global Film & Television Production Incentive Updates: Spring 2026 Roundup

In this month's film & TV production incentives roundup, learn about the latest enacted legislation, proposed credits, and key administrative updates across the U.S. and international jurisdictions.

No matter where you are producing, Entertainment Partners gives you the production incentives intelligence you need to make informed location and budgeting decisions—before cameras roll.

United States Jurisdictions

Enacted U.S. Incentive Legislation

ALABAMA 

Alabama Legislature enacted HB 379, creating a new small-budget lane inside the state's Entertainment Industry Incentive Act. The enrolled bill reserves up to $2 million annually for small-budget qualified productions and gives productions spending at least $100,000 but not more than $499,999 a 45% rebate on payroll paid to Alabama residents. It also clarifies how payments to loan-out companies can qualify and extends the outside program review to the 2028 session. 

Also, effective October 1, 2026, Alabama will require withholding on payments to loan-outs (C corps, S corps, partnerships, LLCs) and independent contractors for services in Alabama on a state-certified production. The Rate is 5% (Independent Contractors, LLCs, and Partnerships).  And 6.5% for C corps (if elected).

CALIFORNIA: SACRAMENTO

The City of Sacramento’s Film + Media office launched a new rebate program to attract larger film and television productions to shoot within city limits. The program offers up to $250,000 in total reimbursements for the 2025-26 fiscal year, including reimbursement of certain City service fees and a 25% rebate on qualified local expenses for eligible projects. Sacramento’s separate local grant program also returned in 2026, with production and post-production grants available in two rounds.

HAWAII

Hawaii’s incentive program just got a major boost. SB 2580 has passed both chambers of the Hawaii State Legislature and is now pending Governor Josh Green's signature. The legislation marks the most significant modernization of the state's film industry infrastructure in more than a decade.

Key provisions include:

• Credit increase to 27% on Oahu and 32% on the Neighbor Islands
• 5% uplift for productions with at least 80% local hires
• Third-party certification requirements
• Increase in the per-production cap from $17M to $20M
• Increase in the annual cap from $50M to $60M
• Explicit inclusion of streaming productions
• GET exemption on client reimbursements through loan-out companies
• Sunset extension to January 1, 2038

The new credits would apply retroactively to costs incurred after December 31, 2025.

NEW JERSEY

New Jersey enacted S4618, with Assembly companion A5827 substituted by S4618. The law further strengthens New Jersey’s Film and Digital Media Tax Credit program, including the Studio Partner and Film-Lease Production Company framework. For designated Studio Partners and qualifying Film-Lease Production Companies, the program permits limited inclusions of certain deferred or contingent compensation tied to production services, including residuals, advances on profit participations, and certain related payments, subject to the program’s caps, reporting rules, and documentation requirements. Note, this is subject to caps, withholding, documentation, and a four-year verification window.

New Jersey, together with New York, shows where the U.S. incentive market is headed, creating larger programs, more specialized structures, and a clearer effort to compete with international jurisdictions like the UK and Ireland.

OREGON

Oregon enacted SB 1510, now Chapter 75. The legislation expands the tax credit for certified film production development contributions to allow the use of such contributions for commercial production, effective for fiscal years beginning on or after July 1, 2026.

PUERTO RICO

Puerto Rico’s Department of Economic Development and Commerce issued Circular Letter No. DDEC 2026-003, updating the film and creative industry incentive process under Act 60. Beginning with FY 2026-2027, with $38M of annual funding, applications will be reviewed under a stricter readiness framework, including financing, rights documentation, cast availability, distribution or platform support, and the ability to begin principal photography within 120 days of decree issuance. Pending pre-FY 2026-2027 applications not approved by June 30, 2026 will be archived or denied, though projects that have not begun filming may resubmit under the updated guidelines.

VIRGINIA

Virginia's Governor approved SB 612 / HB 400 on April 13, 2026. The measure takes effect July 1, 2026, extending the Motion Picture Production Tax Credit sunset through taxable year 2030.

Proposed U.S. Incentive Legislation   

CALIFORNIA

• Post-Production: Proposed AB 2319 would create the California Postproduction Tax Credit beginning with taxable years on or after January 1, 2027, with a 35% base credit on qualified California postproduction expenses and potential additional credits that could take the benefit up to 50%, including uplifts for out-of-zone postproduction, out-of-zone California resident labor, and qualified music scoring.
• Commercial Production: Commercial-production proposal AB 2403 would create a qualified commercial production credit beginning with taxable years on or after January 1, 2027, with a 20% credit for qualified commercial production costs inside the Los Angeles zone and 30% for qualified commercials filmed outside the Los Angeles zone, subject to a proposed $15M annual allocation cap. Commercial productions can help keep crews, vendors, stages, and payroll infrastructure active between larger film and television projects.

Additional U.S. Incentive Updates

CALIFORNIA

• Project Awards: California announced 38 new film projects awarded tax credits through the expanded Film & Television Tax Credit Program, with nearly $800 million in expected statewide economic activity and more than 460 filming days outside the traditional 30-mile studio zone. This activity shows Program 4.0 is beginning to convert the larger $750 million annual allocation into actual projects, jobs, vendors, and statewide production days.

• Production Volume: FILMLA’s Q1 2026 report shows encouraging movement in select Los Angeles production categories, though overall activity remains below historical levels. On-location production totaled 5,121 shoot days, up 10.7% from Q4 2025, but still down 3.3% from Q1 2025 and 29.7% below the five-year average.
  
  According to the report, 147 projects have been awarded credits, with incentivized projects accounting for nearly 7% of all Greater Los Angeles shoot days, including 21.8% of feature production and 17.1% of television production. ⁠Feature films were the strongest category, up 52.3% year over year and 20.6% above the five-year average. TV drama and comedy also improved, with a meaningful share of shoot days tied to tax-credit projects. The recovery, however, remains uneven. Overall, television is still down 28.4% year over year, and reality TV remains the largest concern, down 52.2% year over year and 71.1% below the five-year average.

• Application Dates: The California Film Commission opened the next Tax Credit Program 4.0 film application window on May 11, 2026, accepting applications for live-action and animated independent and non-independent feature films. ⁠
  
  Key dates to note:
  • Application Window: May 11-13, 2026
  • Phase II: May 14-18, 2026
  • Credit Allocation Approval Date: June 22, 2026
    
    Applicants should prepare budgets and required materials in advance, as a completed, properly tagged budget is required to submit the application. Qualified expenditure budgets should generally reflect eligible costs incurred on or after the Credit Allocation Letter date. For assistance preparing your California application, reach out to EP’s Incentives Group.

• Radford Studio Center: Netflix is reportedly negotiating to acquire Radford Studio Center in Studio City for roughly $330M to $400M, a major potential studio-infrastructure move in Los Angeles. The deal has not closed, but if it is completed, it would be a meaningful signal that major buyers still see value in owning or controlling core Los Angeles' production infrastructure, even as local production volume remains under pressure.

International Jurisdictions

Enacted International Incentive Legislation

CANADA

British Columbia: BC made its 2026 Motion Picture Tax Credit changes official on April 16, 2026, when Bill 2 (the Budget Measures Implementation Act, 2026) received Royal Assent, confirming the package announced in Budget 2026 on February 17, 2026. The changes affect both the Production Services Tax Credit (PSTC) and the rollout of the new Major Production Tax Credit (MPTC):

• PSTC pre-certification is eliminated for productions that first incur an accredited BC labor expenditure (ABCLE) on or after October 20, 2025, or whose Film Incentive BC eligibility certificate is revoked on or after January 18, 2026.
• Filing deadline extended from 18 to 36 months after tax year end, for tax years ending on or after August 17, 2024.
• PSTC accreditation fee raised from $10,000 to $19,000 for applications received on or after March 1, 2026 (where principal photography started after December 31, 2024); the new MPTC certificate fee is set at $5,000.
• FIBC completion certificate filing with CRA is no longer required where the filing would have been due on or after February 17, 2026. However, a completion certificate from Creative BC is still required.
• MPTC is now operational. Effective January 1, 2025, the MPTC provides a refundable 2% credit on accredited qualified BC labor expenditure, layered on top of the PSTC, for productions with accredited BC major production expenditure exceeding $200M and principal photography starting after December 31, 2024. Creative BC has released the application form and supporting materials. 

Manitoba: In its 2026 Budget Manitoba announced a series of planned administrative changes to the Film and Video Production Tax Credit, including mandatory pre-certification, anti-abuse measures, and advance-certificate recognition of eligible non-resident labor.

CZECH REPUBLIC

Effective March 27, 2026, the new CEO of the Czech Audiovisual Fund temporarily halted intake of new incentive applications, citing budget exhaustion. Already-registered projects are unaffected, and costs incurred up to six months before registration remain claimable once intake resumes. Negotiations with the government are underway, and incentives are statutorily mandatory expenditures.

The underlying program structure is not changing. Rebate rates and caps in place since January 1, 2025, under Act No. 480/2024 Coll. on Audio vision remain the operative framework: 25% on eligible Czech costs for feature films, documentaries, and fictional TV series; 35% for animation and digital production (no live-action shooting in the Czech Republic); 66% on Czech withholding tax; and a CZK 450 million per-project cap.

HUNGARY

Hungary’s program remains very strong, but it is currently backed up. The 30% base rebate remains in place, with an effective uplift to 37.5% because qualifying foreign spend can equal up to 25% of qualifying Hungarian spend.

For the first half of 2026, Hungary set a HUF 140 billion cap for new registrations. That capacity is fully booked, so new projects are being placed in a queue until more registration capacity becomes available. The second-half cap is expected around June. Importantly, the six-month requirement to start principal photography applies after a project receives registration approval, not while it is waiting in the suspended-registration queue.

IRELAND

Ireland’s newer measures are now live. The Scéal uplift can take qualifying lower-budget feature films to 40% and applies to films certified on or after May 20, 2025. Separately, the Irish government launched the Unscripted Production Corporation Tax Credit on January 4, 2026, at 20% of certain production expenditure up to €15 million per project, with approval through December 31, 2028.

MEXICO

Mexico’s new national incentive for film and audiovisual productions provides a transferable income tax credit of up to 30% of qualified Mexican spend on development, pre-production, production, post-production, animation, VFX, and final delivery, capped at MXN 40M per production/beneficiary and at MXN 400M annually. It is scheduled to remain available through September 30, 2030.

Eligible applicants include Mexican residents and foreign producers, provided the project is produced through a Mexican production company. Key requirements include Technical Committee approval, at least 70% of suppliers being national, and minimum Mexico spend thresholds, including MXN 40M for narrative or animated features and series episodes, MXN 20M for documentaries, and MXN 5M for animation, VFX, and post-production work. The program gives Mexico a national, monetizable incentive structure and makes it a more direct competitor for studio, streamer, animation, VFX, and post-production spend.

PORTUGAL

Portugal enacted Decree-Law No. 57/2026, which created SCRI.PT replaced the old Tourism and Cinema Support Fund. The official decree states that the 2026-2029 package carries a total envelope of €350 million, combining €200M in incentives and a €150M mutual-guarantee credit line.

SERBIA

Serbia’s refreshed incentive rules are now in effect. The Film Center Serbia materials state that the current rules came into effect on March 21, 2026, and provide a 25% cash rebate on qualifying Serbian spend for features, TV series, documentaries, animation, and post-production, 20% for TV commercials, and 30% for projects with at least €5M of Serbian spend. Applications are open year-round.

Additional International Incentive Updates

AUSTRALIA

Australia remains a major international production competitor, and the new streaming content quota adds a second reason to watch the market closely. EP’s Australia team notes that the Streaming Content Requirement Bill 2025 creates mandatory local-content investment obligations for major global streaming platforms operating in Australia.

Under the new framework, platforms with more than AUD $1M in annual Australian subscriber revenue must invest 10% of their total Australian expenditure, or 7.5% of their total Australian revenue, in qualifying Australian content, including drama, children’s programming, documentaries, arts, and educational programming. For producers, this could mean more consistent local commissioning pressure, as well as more competition for crews, infrastructure, production accounting, and compliance support.

NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand added NZ$577 million to support its International Screen Production Rebate, with Reuters framing the move as a response to global competition for production and U.S. pressure over runaway production. The announcement is important because it shows smaller markets continuing to defend production-service work with meaningful government support.

UNITED KINGDOM

The UK posted record film production spend of £2.8 billion in 2025, driven heavily by Hollywood inward investment. The update is a reminder that incentive competition is no longer a one-way story of U.S. productions leaving California, but a broader global competition for production, infrastructure, crews, and long-term investment.

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