Helping artists, performers, and writers become profitably creative

The federal tax provision for the motion picture and TV industry, called Section 181, is set to expire January 1, 2010.  This incentive allows a production company to deduct up to $15 million in costs of any qualifying film or television production instead of having to capitalize and depreciate such costs over several years.  This can be a major incentive for investors to put money in your project.  However, the deadline was extended once already, and barring any last-minute tax maneuvers, if you don’t start principal photography by January 1, 2010, you’ll have to account for the expenses under the old depreciation rules.