Wisconsin Gives Film Tax Incentives and Statewide Film Office Another Shot

This symbolizes a significant shift for the state, which has historically been one of only a handful without a film office — or production incentives — compared to neighboring states like Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Minnesota.

Wisconsin’s commitment to the film industry comes after previous attempts, most recently in the 1990s and early 2000s; former tax incentive programs which were ultimately defunded or persisted without an official film office to support them.

Orchestrated by the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and signed by Governor Tony Evers in a biennial budget bill this previous summer, Wisconsin’s latest incentives offer a 30% tax credit with transferable, refundable and non-refundable components.

Split across two types of applications — for both production services and company investments — these credits are capped at $5 million per fiscal year, with an individual project cap of $1 million.

Minimum spending requirements are also in place: $100,000 for projects longer than 30 minutes and $50,000 for projects shorter than 30 minutes.

Looking ahead, the new state film office director, state representatives, lobbyists, tourism boards — and the Chippewa Valley’s own filmmakers — will directly shape the trajectory of Wisconsin’s future in film.

Local filmmakers envision a future where the state’s natural landscapes and collaborative workforce are brought together through the moving screen — attracting both large-scale productions and supporting its existing pool of creatives.

The stakeholders’ shared goal: sustain a vibrant community-wide media ecosystem which promotes local talent, catalyzes cultural growth and prevents their home state from being left behind.

TRACKING WISCONSIN’S FILM INCENTIVES HISTORY

While Wisconsin will have a ways to go before it rivals the production volume of current incentivized locations including Georgia, New Mexico, California, or New York, the state has long served as a backdrop for memorable cinematic projects ranging from independent features to major studio productions.

From the notable depictions of Milwaukee in the 1980s classics “Major League” and “The Blues Brothers,” to more recent productions such as the historical horror documentary “Monster: The Ed Gein Story” and reality show “Top Chef (Wisconsin),” Wisconsin hasn’t entirely been left out of the world of film.

Production companies, both large and small, have spent their dollars across Wisconsin — and even outside of it — to emulate the state’s cultural setting. Yet, have historically lacked a consistent flow of benefits post production.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, records of a state film office can be traced back to 1987. Prior to its establishment, film location inquiries were informally handled by state Tourism Division staff, the historical society shares.

Between 1987 and 2005, the office encouraged use of Wisconsin locations in motion pictures, television and commercials; the office ultimately closed — a result of state budget cuts.

Jump ahead a few years to 2008, Wisconsin once again saw its opportunity to get in on the “lights, camera and action.”

Under the direction of Governor Jim Doyle, a new wave of incentives — passed in 2006 and implemented in 2008 — included a 25% tax credit that could be claimed by investors in Wisconsin-based productions. It also offered refundable opportunities for direct production expenditures on films, television series, broadcast advertisements, video games, among others.

Then, there was no dedicated film office to support and oversee the tracking of expenditures from motion picture blockbuster films.

In its place, a volunteer committee of industry professionals from the state’s tourism sector, filmmakers and various advocacy groups across the state contributed their time to the cause.

This group advised the state, established resources and created a dedicated website to promote the incentives and facilitate collaboration among prospective production companies.

One member of these collective efforts was Michael Graf, a Madison-based director, producer and the screenplay writer for “Green and Gold” — a 2025 independent film about a Wisconsin dairy farmer — which notably rejected filming in other states, despite their incentives, opting instead for authentic Wisconsin locations.

For producers from states including California or New York — with their own competitive incentives — who sought to produce in Wisconsin, the first steps ideally would involve contacting the state film office, identifying potential crew to hire and scouting prospective locations.

Graf remembers there being a large gap in the industry for those resources, between the 1990s and 2000s.

“At that time, Illinois had one of the most robust film (and) financial incentives to lure productions into the Midwest,” Graf said. “Again, we had nothing here; anything like that at all. We did all of that on a grassroots level, the state really didn’t have anything to do with that… (we were) just trying to fill that need that still existed.”

Despite the volunteer efforts by locals in the film industry, the logistical and personnel needs that a dedicated film office would typically handle eventually overwhelmed them, Graf said.

With the support of other directors and filmmakers, he testified to the state legislature as film incentives were once again reintroduced in the later 2000s.

Even with a bi-partisan effort — and endorsements from the Wisconsin Arts Board — opinions varied on the effectiveness of these incentives as a means of supporting the arts and stimulating the economy.

Wisconsin consistently ranks among the lowest in the United States for state government funding of the arts; in 2025, the state placed 48th with just 20 cents allotted per capita.

Minnesota, our neighboring state — ranking number one nationally — allocates $7.25 of public funding per capita to the arts.

From the filmmaking perspective, Graf shared there were positive outcomes from the late 2000s incentives which ultimately passed. Amidst their grassroots efforts and some support from the Department of Tourism, films including Universal Pictures’ 2009 blockbuster “Public Enemies” were shot and released to a global audience.

The former film incentives also offered forward-thinking approaches to accelerate the creative pursuits of video game software companies in the state, including Madison-based Raven Software.

These initiatives demonstrated how the access to statewide film incentives could benefit a wider range of creative industries.

As Isthmus magazine and The Fourth Estate reported, in 2009 Governor Jim Doyle reduced Wisconsin’s film incentives after just a year and a half. When Wisconsin saw its new Governor, Scott Walker, take office, the film tax credit program was eliminated; the governor’s office cited a lack in job creation and poor return on investment, the two publications shared.

With a combined absence of film incentives and lack of what an official state office could offer film projects in Wisconsin, locals in the industry sought alternative means to sustain their creative passions and professional careers.

Brad Carr, an Emmy Award-winning production executive and producer whose credits include “LEGO Masters,” “MasterChef,” “The Biggest Loser (USA),” among others, experienced this pull to other states with greater incentives than Wisconsin.

Originally from Oshkosh, Carr graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh’s radio, television, and film program. He and his wife, Deborah Carr, also a film and production professional, eventually moved to Los Angeles and spent most of their subsequent film career outside of the Midwest.

Despite this, over the last five years, Carr noted many trends which have drawn his family and fellow film industry creatives back to their home state and Eau Claire. Whether it be productions occurring overseas versus domestically, the rising cost of living near Hollywood, or dialogues that whispered the possibility of new incentives efforts for the state.

“When you are close enough to those conversations and seeing the (production) budgets and understanding kind of the bigger picture economics of what is happening… Those are the bigger conversations we had in our life, to (determine) what are the futures for work and what is the future for our family,” Carr said.

A CHIPPEWA VALLEY CLOSE UP

Since Carr has re-engaged with Wisconsin’s filmmaking movement, he remains a strong advocate for incentive opportunities here in the Chippewa Valley. The statewide incentives, passed by legislature in the summer of 2025, offer but one path forward for local talent and crews.

“While it is a modest tax credit to start, what we do offer is a pretty decent backdrop of locations, and people’s willingness to allow people to film and do production in the state,” Carr said. “As the film office gets set up and becomes a resource — a clearing house — for connecting producers with qualified crew, those relationships will formulate here.”

Locals connected to Action! Wisconsin, a key stakeholder in support of the recent film incentives, led the charge to bring the Chippewa Valley into the conversation.

Nathan Deming, an independent writer, director and producer based in Eau Claire and Los Angeles — whose work centers on Wisconsin narratives and the Chippewa Valley — is a lead organizer in Action! Wisconsin and founder of the Eau Claire Filmmakers group.

The Eau Claire Filmmakers offers a low barrier-to-entry for any locals who wish to learn more about the incentives, and also a casual space to network or meet other like-minded professionals to work with on their own projects.

This work — done in tandem with his own productions “January,” “February” and forthcoming feature, “Winter Hymns” — allows for increased opportunity to work and collaborate in his home state.

“It’s been 12 years since Wisconsin had anything close to a film office or film incentives,” Deming said. “This (effort) is about building a larger infrastructure that will help everybody downstream; every time a film comes to a region, they are pouring in money, but they are also pouring in talent and experience.”

For Co O’Neill, a faculty member in the University of Wisconsin Stout’s video production and design programs, Eau Claire Filmmakers offers students an outlet to connect with emerging talent and crews beyond the classroom.

O’Neill, a former member of Oregon’s state film board, said his role out West allowed him to better understand the influence of incentives in both television and movies.

“(Incentives are) something that you almost have to learn and understand in order to be within this type of industry,” O’Neill said. “I am trying to get jobs for my students, (I) want to pay attention to the jobs that are coming and going… and how much they spent and added value to that area.”

Sure enough, as students of O’Neill continued to work for productions in neighboring Midwestern states, they too understood the appeal of film incentives.

“Immediately, he understood and saw the impact of the (film) tax incentives,” O’Neill said of a student who recently worked on a film in Minnesota. “(As faculty) you are trying to teach people skills, so the day they graduate, they can step into a job and know what they are doing.”

UW-Stout’s focus in the film industry — as a polytechnic institution — lies in the application of industry level skills in film. O’Neill has provided students with a path to gain career experience on local, short or feature-length films.

Many of O’Neill’s students served as crew members on “Winter Hymns” in the weeks they shot Deming’s feature in the Chippewa Valley. A production, created without tax incentives, that was made possible through local collaboration.

“I just shot a feature here in September in Menomonie,” Deming said. “I was a little nervous, honestly, about getting the size of crew I wanted (and) I was blown away. We had, towards the end, about 60 or 70 people who ended up working on the movie — they were a mix of all different backgrounds.”

Luke Alexopoulos and Charlie Johnson are two additional stakeholders who have connections to the Eau Claire Filmmakers collective. Even prior to the incentives being passed this past July, the senior public relations manager at Visit Eau Claire and Eau Claire City Council member, respectively, expressed their interest to shine a light on the city through film.

Both Visit Eau Claire and the City have endorsed bringing film opportunities to the Chippewa Valley, with the intent to introduce new social-economic benefits.

“When I met with Nathan, what really captured my attention was hearing the success story of neighboring states,” Johnson said, who led the endorsement of film incentives in Eau Claire. “As an Eau Claire leader, we do have to be thinking about how we can benefit from these incentives — and a statewide film office overall.

“We’re the second fastest growing city in the state of Wisconsin. I feel like we carry some weight in our decisions especially over in the western side of the state,” he continued.

The Visit Eau Claire staff, with the support of Eau Claire Filmmakers, has launched a regional online hub — mirroring the new statewide film office webpage, housed within Travel Wisconsin, the Department of Tourism’s landing page.

Currently, Eau Claire has yet to announce its own film office location for western Wisconsin.

Through “Film In Eau Claire,” prospective filmmakers and producers can tap into the Chippewa Valley’s directory of natural landscapes, cast and crew to hire, housing and dining accommodations and more.

“We have a lot of experience with working with large groups and being a connector in the Valley,” Alexopoulos said. “We might not always have the answer for, say, a very specific filming question, but we have a really good pulse on our community and that we can be connected to the people that have those answers.”

This cooperative approach, he believes, could sustain the Department of Tourism’s ongoing efforts in the years ahead.

With established relationships among City staff, Eau Claire Filmmakers and the local tourism sector, the stage may be set to help western Wisconsin boost its presence in the statewide filmmaking landscape.

WISCONSIN’S NEXT ACT

This January, Veronica Pope was announced as Wisconsin’s incoming film office director. An Emmy Award-winning producer and show runner, Pope has worked with cable television networks such as HGTV and The History Channel, to major production networks including Warner Brothers, Discovery and more.

Her first steps in this role have been coupled with the debut of Film Wisconsin, the Department of Tourism’s film office. Both will ensure accurate documentation and verification of expenditures tied to the new incentives, she said.

She also aims to connect with filmmakers across the state — including the Chippewa Valley — to distribute the total $5 million in tax incentives available per year and foster a more robust film industry in Wisconsin.

“First and foremost, we want people to know that Wisconsin is ready for production,” Pope said. “We want to attract great productions from all across the country — people who maybe have never thought of Wisconsin before.

“We (also) really want to support producers and filmmakers here in Wisconsin, who maybe never thought that they could actually make their project here — and now there’s a new opportunity,” she continued.

Through production company investment incentives, the film office also aims to help grow film-related companies, filmmakers and production companies in local communities.

Several independent film production companies already exist within the Chippewa Valley, from Tim Schwagel’s New Neighbor to Steve Dayton and BJ Hollars’ Fireside Productions, LLC.

These local entities have achieved national film festival designations and regional Midwest Emmy accolades, entirely through local talent, community-wide crowdfunding and sponsorships and online campaigns — all without the aid of film incentives.

Schwagel, similar to Carr, believes the new film incentives can lead to increased in-state productions, creating jobs for local crew members such as production assistants, grips and electricians.

This allows people to build film careers within Wisconsin, rather than having to move elsewhere.

Yet, he also worries about the current spending requirements set for short-film projects to receive incentive benefits. How many short film productions can afford to spend the $50,000 required by legislation?

“I wouldn’t be spending that much on a short film,” Schwagel said of the short film minimum spending. New Neighbor’s latest short, “Blossom Needs A Ride Home,” raised a total of just over $2,000 through crowdfunding and also used funds from the production business.

“Just because there aren’t any direct financial incentives for a short filmmaker, doesn’t mean that there aren’t benefits in the long term overall,” he continued. “If there (are) tax incentives in the area, ideally, the whole point is that productions are actually happening in the state. (Productions) want to hire local — and they need to.”

Steve Betchkal, an Emmy Award-winning videojournalist in the Chippewa Valley — with the production company “Story Time with Steve & Micah” — believes his own mini documentaries may not benefit from the new incentives.

Both he and his film partner, Micah Davis, provide a more authentic perspective than larger Hollywood productions, Betchkal said. Filmmakers rooted in the state have the greatest advantage to showcase everyday community members — the “characters” — who may be the subjects of any Wisconsin-centered stories.

“I’m not coming here (to Wisconsin) because I’m getting an incentive,” Betchkal said. “I’m doing it because the stories are here.”

“We’re looking for the local character, which we can build a story around,” he continued. “What’s been so compelling for us is recognizing and discovering these underrepresented stories right here in Eau Claire… so we have a document, a record that can be used for generations of folks to better know this region.”

Hollars and Dayton, whether through their debut documentary “When Rubber Hit The Road” — which tells the story of the landmark Uniroyal tire factory — or forthcoming “Kings Of Kubb” project, intend to spotlight what makes the Eau Claire area special for regional audiences and beyond.

The duo also hopes to emphasize the positive returns which could unfold, both socially and economically, when a state like Wisconsin reinvests in film — and more broadly — the arts.

“I think, finally, we are starting to help all the representatives at the state level recognize that there is a big untapped opportunity here,” Hollars said. “We have let the arts go away for too long. It’s time to reel us all back in and then see what we can do for the state.”

Pope’s next steps for the future of Film Wisconsin, the Department of Tourism and the entire state are to ensure vibrant storytelling — from all genres, from fantasy to horror to documentary — have the potential to represent the state.

“Some of the partners that we worked with for the last year, here in Wisconsin, are interested to see how they can bring new projects back to Wisconsin,” Pope said, in reference to projects such as reality television and feature-length movies. “I think that’s a great first step and a great testament to Wisconsin — that we had success and that those productions worked here.”

The current film incentives are set to be in effect through 2027. As the first wave of applicants are evaluated and accepted to receive incentives through filming in-state, the legislature will be tasked with reviewing these reports to determine if the program garnered significant social-economic benefits in Wisconsin.

Until then, Chippewa Valley filmmakers and others connected to the industry are committed to promote and uplift the vibrant film and television community which surrounds them. These Wisconsin locations — the rolling hills or small-town mom and pop shops — will continue to inspire big-screen stories and reveal the rich narratives from the state we call home.

“We all just love making stuff together and working on each other’s (films) — that is the only way to have (films) be possible around here, dang it,” Schwagel said of his local community and network.

“The best thing that any of you can do is (work with) the people here, who you like to make stuff with. Stick with them and keep doing that for as long as humanly possible,” he said.