While watching the Academy Awards tonight, the President of the AAMPS mentioned that six movies are being filmed in New Orleans employing over 600 locals. It was news to me. I wouldn't have thought of filmmaking as part of the recovery effort. But just like tourism it was (is?) a flourishing source of revenue in the city. At the state level is the Governor's Office of Film & TV, appropriately part of the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, and the city has the same bureaucracy. The state offers tax incentives to productions that spend over $250,000 in Louisiana within a 12 month period. One of interesting conditions is that the production must pay all state sales tax on purchases made in connection with production. Without knowing more about the LA tax system I won't venture a guess as to how the city of New Orlaesns shares the revenue. But of course production revenue doesn't stop with tax revenue, since the crew takes full advantage of local economy.