Decades ago, Florida used to be an attractive destination for film production — and in Central Florida, specifically, the region saw the development of production studios through Universal Orlando and Disney. Today, the region still has well-regarded film education programs through higher-ed institutions like Valencia College, the private Full Sail University and the University of Central Florida.
Today, however, the job market for working actors and film crews in Orlando is scarce — if you’re looking to make a living, that is, and be able to afford to live and raise a family in the city.
Chris Greene, a longtime actor and SAG-AFTRA union member who also works as an acting coach through his Orlando-based organization, Life of an Actor, admitted, “I don’t prepare students to work locally, honestly.”
Greene himself, an industry veteran of over 20 years and New York native, travels to other states — like Georgia, Louisiana, the Carolinas or California — for the bulk of his work these days. He’s been featured both in film roles and in shows like Atlanta, Queen of the South, Monsters and The Vampire Diaries.
It’s not that Florida is visually an unattractive place to shoot. Greene points out that the extensive fields and old orange groves in Polk County, for instance, would be a “filmmaker’s dream” for a post-apocalyptic filming location (with a green-screen, of course). The problem, according to Greene and other industry professionals, is competition from other states — and Canada — that offer incentives for film production.
“It’s an exodus of epic proportions, but if a movie were ever to be made about it, it would probably have to be shot in Georgia.”
“They come here to get, you know, beauty shots at the beach or theme park or whatever’s in their movie, and then go where they’re giving away money,” said Jimmy Roberts, a business manager of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 477, a union that represents skilled craftspeople in the film, theatrical and production industries in Florida.
The state of Georgia, for instance, offers a 30 percent credit on film and TV production costs — an incentive that advocates say can help boost the local economy.
“As far as helping local businesses, you can’t put a number on that,” said Greene, who traveled to Atlanta for work and spent time there when the state first started seeing its film production boom.
From restaurants and hotels to local hardware stores and ride-share drivers, Greene argued, everyone in a community can benefit from film production, especially if you’re working with a bigger film crew or a TV series that will have a crew and performers in town for weeks.
“We have to have gas, you know, rental houses that have equipment, tents, chairs. See, stuff that people don’t really think about,” he remarked. “When they see a production set, they go, ‘Oh, that’s all great. Like, it’s all there. But they don’t realize, no, this stuff has to come from somewhere.”
Roberts, whose union advocates for behind-the-scenes workers, had a similar assessment. “When we do a big show, we’ll spend, you know, hundreds of thousands, if not millions at, you know, lumber yards and hardware stores,” as well as on rental cars and hotel rooms. “It definitely would pay for itself, in my opinion,” the IATSE official stated.
Season 1 of the TV show Bloodline, for instance, filmed in the Florida Keys, created over 1,700 jobs and generated roughly $9.4 million in local and state tax revenue, according to the Monroe County Tourist Development Council. That production was one of the last major projects to benefit from a former statewide film incentive program in Florida that was established in 2010.
Florida lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott allowed the program to essentially sunset in 2016, at the urging of the billionaire-backed astroturf group Americans for Prosperity, which described it as “corporate welfare.”
“The program is only sure to benefit film industry executives and Hollywood elites — all while hardworking Floridians feel the sting of rising inflation on their pocketbooks,” wrote Skyler Zander, Florida director of Americans for Prosperity, in a 2022 op-ed criticizing efforts to reinstate the program.
But for Greene — an actual working professional in the industry — the benefit of drawing film production back to Florida, and the Orlando area specifically, is clear. Not just for local business owners and their employees who are struggling to stay afloat, but also for the 3,000 students who graduate from Central Florida programs each year. The county estimates that roughly half leave the state for work after they graduate.
Greene said it’s next to impossible for early-career working performers to afford to live in Orlando without picking up side hustles or traveling out of state for work.
“Pick your poison, but at least you know your neighboring states are going to have work for you to do,” he quipped.
Greene himself has a young daughter, but due to the lack of production opportunities here — particularly outside of commercial work and indie films — he’s forced to travel out of state for the bulk of his film and TV jobs.
“I’d much rather be here and spend that time with her,” he admitted.
Resurrecting the local film industry
While there hasn’t been enough of an appetite to revive the statewide program, Orange County could become the latest municipality in Florida to establish a local incentive program, similar to those that already exist in about a half-dozen other Florida counties, including Hillsborough, Miami-Dade and Duval.
A proposed initiative, initially spearheaded by former county commissioner Emily Bonilla, would aim to draw film production to Orange County by offering a rebate on a percentage of production costs that take place in the county.
The idea is to reimburse only a portion of what is actually spent here in the county — verified through invoices and factors such as proof of marketing value and economic impact.
Orange County created a film incentive work group earlier this year to put together a proposal for county leaders’ approval. The nine-member work group is composed of industry professionals, SAG-AFTRA member and performer Carole Bailey, Roberts with IATSE, and experts from institutions like Valencia that have film programs.
“I think there’s really good representation at all levels [of] this working group, and we are going to do our best to develop a program that works for the film and TV industry,” Roseann Harrington, chief of staff for Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, told Orlando Weekly.
The idea isn’t to establish a tax break for wealthy filmmakers, or to egregiously subsidize the pursuits of the 1 percent. Rather, the goal is to lift up local talent, production, “and all the peripheral businesses around it,” Harrington explained.
The idea isn’t to egregiously subsidize the pursuits of the 1% but to lift up local talent, production, “and all the peripheral businesses around it.”
“We understand that they’re passionate about this,” she said of the work group members, “and we’re going to try and come up with a really good program that can be successful.”
Details are still being finalized. For instance, the work group wants to require that a certain percentage of the film crew’s labor force live and work in Orange County in order for the project to qualify. This would help ensure that the bulk of a project’s actors and crew members aren’t just flown in from other states.
“Everybody on that call sheet needs to be able to benefit,” said Greene, who’s not involved in the work group himself, but maintains a line of communication with fellow union member Bailey, who is.
“Everybody in the surrounding area of Orange County needs to benefit,” he argued, not just the above-the-line professionals such as the directors and producers.
Figuring out the nuts and bolts
Based on the county’s current recommendations, yet to be finalized, eligible projects would include those that utilize a minimum percentage of workers who live locally (Bonilla’s initial proposal suggested 30 percent).
Other recommendations include a requirement for projects to spend at least $100,000 minimum locally to qualify, host a public screening in the community, and offer internships for local film students. A cap would be placed for the incentive, per project, as well.
The administrator of sorts would be the Orlando Film Commission, a tri-county body with contracts in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties that has, since 2016, largely been dedicated to permitting and site selection work for the film projects that do still occur here.
Under the work group’s proposal, the Orlando Film Commission would be relocated under Orange County’s Office of Economic Development, Tourism, and Trade, and be staffed with three county employees: a film commissioner, marketing coordinator and permitting/production coordinator.
The program, beginning as a proposed five-year commitment, would be funded by a sliver of Orange County’s annual tourist tax development (TDT) funds — $22 million — over five years, beginning with a $2 million investment the first year, and $5 million each year for years 2-5.
TDT funds are tax dollars accumulated through a 6 percent tax that the county levies on top of hotel and short-term rental stays, like other local governments. This last fiscal year, the county set a new annual record for its TDT collections, the Orlando Sentinel reported, collecting roughly $359.46 million in funds from Oct. 1, 2023, through Sept. 30, 2024.
Two million dollars to start by itself is a modest commitment comparable to those of other Florida counties with similar programs (Hillsborough, Pinellas and Palm Beach also fund their programs with TDT dollars). It’s also a conservative figure compared to dollar amounts historically earmarked for other initiatives in Orange County.
Last year, the bulk of the county’s collections — a percentage of which are restricted for tourism-related uses only under state law — were given to the Pentagon-sized Orange County Convention Center which is, incredibly, looking to expand. Tens, or in some cases, hundreds of millions of dollars have also been handed out to the Kia Center and other local sports stadiums over the years to subsidize their own pet projects.
Film Florida, a nonprofit trade association, estimates that if Orange County started with an initial investment of $5 million, the film incentive rebate program could generate $33 million or more in direct spending in Central Florida and add 2,500 film cast and crew jobs. Over the last fiscal year, the Orlando Film Commission issued 137 permits for commercial and TV projects, generating more than $13 million in economic impact, according to the county.
“Basically, what we’re trying to do is resurrect the film industry in Orange County,” Harrington said, summarizing the intent of the new initiative. She further described the statewide program’s expiration in 2016 as a “blow” to the state, since this forced local incentive programs in existence to scale back.
“Productions are leaving, vendors are fleeing, and workers are moving to Georgia in the wake of a concerted and well-financed campaign by the billionaire Koch brothers and their conservative allies in the state Legislature to kill the Sunshine State’s incentives,” the late journalist David Robbe reported for Deadline in 2016, after Americans for Prosperity had gotten its way.
“It’s an exodus of epic proportions, but if a movie were ever to be made about it, it would probably have to be shot in Georgia.”
A holistic approach
Greene, the local actor, said other states and municipalities have other things going for them Orlando doesn’t have that make them attractive film locations as well.
For instance, a more robust public transportation system, which is important for crew members traveling from hotels or homes to studio sites. In Atlanta, for instance, Greene said the train system has a stop right outside Tyler Perry Studios.
“So if you’re an actor, you pay $3 for a train ride for the day, you can get right to Tyler Perry if you have to go to work without having a car,” he explained in practical terms. Similarly helpful metro and bus lines offer convenient transportation options for working professionals in New York and Los Angeles, too, he added.
“You know, if the local food places can’t supply, local transportation can’t, you know, transport my 50 crew members, can’t house my 50 crew members, what am I doing here?” Greene explained. The county’s public infrastructure and transit system is a consideration he believes should be taken into account as well.
According to Harrington, the Orange County Commission will receive and vote on a final proposal for a local film incentive program in February or March 2025.
This post has been updated to clarify film/TV work actor Chris Greene is best known for.
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This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2024.
