§ 24-d. Empire state independent film production credit. (a) (1)
Allowance of credit. A taxpayer which is a qualified independent film
production company, or which is a sole proprietor of or a member of a
partnership which is a qualified independent film production company,
and which is subject to tax under articles nine-A or twenty-two of this
chapter, shall be allowed a credit against such tax, pursuant to the
provisions referenced in subdivision (c) of this section, to be computed
as hereinafter provided.

(2) (i) The amount of the credit shall be the product (or pro rata
share of the product, in the case of a member of a partnership) of
thirty percent and the qualified production costs paid or incurred in
the production of a qualified film, provided that the qualified
production costs (excluding post production costs) paid or incurred
which are attributable to the use of tangible property or the
performance of services at a qualified film production facility in the
production of such qualified film equal or exceed seventy-five percent
of the production costs (excluding post production costs) paid or
incurred which are attributable to the use of tangible property or the
performance of services at any film production facility within and
without the state in the production of such qualified film. However, if
the qualified production costs (excluding post production costs) which
are attributable to the use of tangible property or the performance of
services at a qualified film production facility in the production of
such qualified film is less than three million dollars, then the portion
of the qualified production costs attributable to the use of tangible
property or the performance of services in the production of such
qualified film outside of a qualified film production facility shall be
allowed only if the shooting days spent in New York outside of a film
production facility in the production of such qualified film equal or
exceed seventy-five percent of the total shooting days spent within and
without the state outside of a film production facility in the
production of such qualified film. The credit shall be allowed for the
taxable year in which the production of such qualified film is
completed. A taxpayer shall not be eligible for a tax credit established
by this section for the production of more than two qualified films per
calendar year.

(ii) In addition to the amount of credit established in subparagraph
(i) of this paragraph, a taxpayer shall be allowed a credit equal to (A)
the product (or pro rata share of the product, in the case of a member
of a partnership) of ten percent and the wages, salaries or other
compensation constituting qualified production costs as defined in
paragraph one of subdivision (b) of this section, paid to individuals
directly employed by a qualified independent film production company for
services performed by those individuals in one of the counties specified
in this subparagraph in connection with a qualified independent film
with a minimum budget of five hundred thousand dollars, and (B) the
product (or pro rata share of the product, in the case of a member of a
partnership) of ten percent and the qualified production costs
(excluding wages, salaries or other compensation) paid or incurred in
the production of a qualified film where the property constituting such
qualified production costs was used, and the services constituting such
qualified production costs were performed in any of the counties
specified in this subparagraph in connection with a qualified film with
a minimum budget of five hundred thousand dollars where the majority of
principal photography shooting days in the production of such film were
shot in any of the counties specified in this paragraph. Provided,
however, that the aggregate total eligible qualified production costs
constituting wages, salaries or other compensation, for writers,
directors, composers, producers, and performers shall not exceed forty
percent of the aggregate sum total of all other qualified production
costs. For purposes of the credit, the services must be performed and
the property must be used in one or more of the following counties:
Albany, Allegany, Broome, Cattaraugus, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung,
Chenango, Clinton, Columbia, Cortland, Delaware, Dutchess, Erie, Essex,
Franklin, Fulton, Genesee, Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis,
Livingston, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga,
Ontario, Orange, Orleans, Oswego, Otsego, Putnam, Rensselaer, Saratoga,
Schenectady, Schoharie, Schuyler, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Steuben,
Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins, Ulster, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Wyoming,
or Yates and (C) qualified production costs that are attributable to
scoring shall be eligible for an additional ten percent credit on such
scoring costs when incurred within the state and when such scoring costs
include payment to a minimum of five musicians.

(3) No qualified production costs used by a taxpayer either as the
basis for the allowance of the credit provided for under this section or
used in the calculation of the credit provided for under this section
shall be used by such taxpayer to claim any other credit allowed
pursuant to this chapter.

(4) Notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this subdivision, a
qualified independent film production company that has applied for
credit under the provisions of this section, agrees as a condition for
the granting of the credit: (i) to include in each qualified film
distributed by DVD, or other media for the secondary market, a New York
promotional video approved by the governor's office of motion picture
and television development or to include in the end credits of each
qualified film "Filmed With the Support of the New York State Governor's
Office of Motion Picture and Television Development" and a logo provided
by the governor's office of motion picture and television development,
and (ii) to certify that it will purchase taxable tangible property and
services, defined as qualified production costs pursuant to paragraph
one of subdivision (b) of this section, only from companies registered
to collect and remit state and local sales and use taxes pursuant to
articles twenty-eight and twenty-nine of this chapter.

(b) Definitions. As used in this section, the following terms shall
have the following meanings:

(1) "Qualified production costs" means production costs only to the
extent such costs, excluding labor costs, do not exceed sixty million
dollars and are attributable to the use of tangible property or the
performance of services within the state directly and predominantly in
the production (including pre-production and post production) of a
qualified film. In the case of an eligible relocated television series,
the term "qualified production costs" shall include, in the first season
that the eligible relocated television series is produced in New York
after relocation, qualified relocation costs. Provided, however, that
the aggregate total eligible qualified production costs for producers,
writers, directors, performers (other than background actors with no
scripted lines), and composers shall not exceed forty percent of the
aggregate sum total of all other qualified production costs.

(2) "Production costs" means any costs for tangible property used and
services performed directly and predominantly in the production
(including pre-production and post production) of a qualified film.
"Production costs" shall not include costs for a story, script or
scenario to be used for a qualified film. "Production costs" generally
include writers, directors, composers and performers, technical and crew
production costs, such as expenditures for film production facilities,
or any part thereof, props, makeup, wardrobe, film processing, camera,
sound recording, scoring, set construction, lighting, shooting, editing
and meals.

(3) "Qualified film" means a scripted narrative feature-length film,
television film, relocated television series or television series,
regardless of the medium by means of which the film or series is created
or conveyed. For the purposes of the credit provided by this section
only, a "qualified film" whose majority of principal photography
shooting days in the production of the qualified film are shot in
Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, or Suffolk county or any of the five New
York City boroughs shall have a minimum budget of one million dollars. A
"qualified film", whose majority of principal photography shooting days
in the production of the qualified film are shot in any other county of
the state than those listed in the preceding sentence shall have a
minimum budget of two hundred fifty thousand dollars. "Qualified film"
shall not include: (i) a television pilot, documentary film, news or
current affairs program, interview or talk program, "how-to" (i.e.,
instructional) film or program, film or program consisting primarily of
stock footage, sporting event or sporting program, game show, award
ceremony, film or program intended primarily for industrial, corporate
or institutional end-users, fundraising film or program, daytime drama
(i.e., daytime "soap opera"), commercials, music videos or "reality"
program; (ii) a production for which records are required under section
2257 of title 18, United States code, to be maintained with respect to
any performer in such production (reporting of books, films, etc. with
respect to sexually explicit conduct); or (iii) a television series
commonly known as variety entertainment, variety sketch and variety
talk, i.e., a program with components of improvisational or scripted
content (monologues, sketches, interviews), either exclusively or in
combination with other entertainment elements such as musical
performances, dancing, cooking, crafts, pranks, stunts, and games and
which may be further defined in regulations of the commissioner of
economic development.

(4) "Film production facility" shall mean a building and/or complex of
buildings and their improvements and associated back-lot facilities in
which films are or are intended to be regularly produced and which
contain at least one sound stage, provided, however, that an armory
owned by the state or city of New York located in the city of New York
shall not be considered to be a "film production facility" unless such
facility is used by a qualified independent film production company.

(5) "Qualified film production facility" shall mean a film production
facility in the state, which contains at least one sound stage having a
minimum of seven thousand square feet of contiguous production space.

(6) "Qualified independent film production company" is a corporation,
partnership, limited partnership, or other entity or individual, that or
who (i) is principally engaged in the production of a qualified film,
(ii) is not publicly traded, and (iii) is not majority owned, fifty-one
percent or more, by a company publicly traded on a United States stock
exchange.

(7) "Relocated television series" shall mean the first two years of a
regularly occurring production intended to run in its initial broadcast,
regardless of the medium or mode of its distribution, in a series of
narrative and/or thematically related episodes, each of which has a
running time of at least thirty minutes in length (inclusive of
commercial advertisement and interstitial programming, if any), which
had filmed a minimum of six episodes of the television series outside
the state immediately prior to relocating to the state, where the
television series had a total minimum budget of at least one million
dollars per episode. For the purposes of this definition only, a
television series produced by and for media services providers described
as streaming services and/or digital platforms (and excluding
network/cable) shall mean a regularly occurring production intended to
run in its initial release in a series of narrative and/or thematically
related episodes, the aggregate length of which is at least seventy-five
minutes, although the episodes themselves may vary in duration from the
thirty minutes specified for network/cable production.

(8) "Qualified relocation costs" means the costs incurred, excluding
wages, salaries and other compensation, in the first season that a
relocated television series relocates to New York, including such costs
incurred to transport sets, props and wardrobe to New York and other
costs as determined by the department of economic development to the
extent such costs do not exceed six million dollars.

(9) If the total amount of allocated credits applied for in any
particular year is less than the aggregate amount of tax credits allowed
for such year under this section, any unused portion may be carried over
and added to the aggregate amount of credits allowed in the next
succeeding taxable year or years.

(c) Cross-references. For application of the credit provided for in
this section, see the following provisions of this chapter:

(1) article 9-A: section 210-B: subdivision 20-a.

(2) article 22: section 606: subsection (gg-1).

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this chapter, employees and
officers of the governor's office of motion picture and television
development and the department shall be allowed and are directed to
share and exchange information regarding the credits applied for,
allowed, or claimed pursuant to this section and taxpayers who are
applying for credits or who are claiming credits, including information
contained in or derived from credit claim forms submitted to the
department and applications for credit submitted to the governor's
office of motion picture and television development.

(e) Allocation of credit. The aggregate amount of tax credits allowed
under this section, subdivision twenty-a of section two hundred ten and
subsection (gg-1) of section six hundred six of this chapter in any
calendar year shall be (1) twenty million dollars for qualified films
with a budget of less than ten million dollars of qualified production
costs; and (2) eighty million dollars for qualified films with a budget
of ten million dollars or more of qualified production costs. There
shall be at least two application periods each year; such aggregate
amount of credits shall be allocated by the governor's office for motion
picture and television development among taxpayers in order of priority
based upon the date of filing of an application for allocation of the
independent film production credit with such office within each
application period. If the commissioner of economic development
determines that the aggregate amount of tax credits available for an
application period under paragraph one of this subdivision have been
previously allocated, and determines that the pending applications from
eligible applicants for the other application period in such calendar
year is insufficient to utilize the balance of unallocated tax credits
for such period, then such commissioner may allocate to productions
eligible under such paragraph any credits that remain unallocated for
such period pursuant to paragraph two of this subdivision. Provided,
however, the total amount of allocated credits applied in any calendar
year shall not exceed the aggregate amount of tax credits allowed for
such year under this section.

(f) (1) The commissioner of economic development shall reduce by
one-half of one percent the amount of credit allowed to a taxpayer and
this reduced amount shall be reported on a certificate of tax credit
issued pursuant to this section and the regulations promulgated by the
commissioner of economic development to implement this credit program.

(2) By January thirty-first of each year, the commissioner of economic
development shall report to the comptroller the total amount of such
reductions of tax credit during the immediately preceding calendar year.
On or before March thirty-first of each year, the comptroller shall
transfer without appropriations from the general fund to the empire
state entertainment diversity job training development fund established
under section ninety-seven-ff of the state finance law an amount equal
to the total amount of such reductions reported by the commissioner of
economic development for the immediately preceding calendar year.

(g) Credit recapture. If a certificate of tax credit issued by the
department of economic development pursuant to this section is revoked
by such department because the taxpayer does not meet the eligibility
requirements of this section, the amount of credit described in this
section and claimed by the taxpayer prior to that revocation shall be
added back to tax in the taxable year in which any such revocation
becomes final.