An investigation by the Dayton Daily News, Journal-News and Springfield News-Sun found the program has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in tax credits over the years, though Republicans and Democrats alike question its value.
Films that hit the big screen this year with help from state funds include “Superman.” About a quarter of the box office hit was shot in Cincinnati and Cleveland backed by more than $11 million in Ohio tax credits.
Robert DeNiro’s “The Alto Knights” was also released this year. The $13.8 million it received from the state is more than the $10 million it reportedly made at the box office. Parts of the film were shot in the Dayton area — a portion of U.S. 35 in Xenia was temporarily closed in December 2022 for filming.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The tax credits are refundable, meaning the productions get more money from the state than they pay in taxes. The $205,872 in tax credits awarded this year to “The Darker Side,” a film being shot in Middletown, makes up nearly one-third of the production’s total budget, according to documents obtained by this news outlet.
Producers who use the tax credit say it benefits not only them but local communities.
Kori Prior, executive producer of “Elf The Musical,” said the tax credit was a factor in choosing to tour in Ohio, and the production hired local crew and spent money at restaurants and hotels.
“While everybody’s here, we’re staying in local hotels, we’re utilizing rental cars, we’re eating in local restaurants, people are going to local attractions,” Prior said. “People are ... living here, working here and stimulating the local economy.”
The program
The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit program provides a refundable tax credit of 30% on production cast and crew wages and other in-state spending for eligible productions, including feature-length films, documentaries, pre-Broadway productions, commercials, TV shows, miniseries, video games and music videos.
The Ohio General Assembly this year tried to sunset the program in the state’s two-year budget, but Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed that measure, keeping the program intact.
“The film and theater production tax credit attracts major film and theater productions to Ohio, bringing jobs while highlighting Ohio’s appeal as a premier destination to live, work, and visit. The tax credit program is essential to compete with other states and to maintain a strong film and theater industry in Ohio,” DeWine wrote in his veto message.
The program costs the state $50 million annually.
Budgets must exceed $300,000 to receive the tax credit, and the credit applies to any money spent in the state as part of the production.
In the first half of fiscal year 2024, 24 projects were awarded the tax credit, with only three projects denied — each of which were from Ohio-based production offices.
Of the 24 projects that received the tax credit, 15 were from Ohio-based production companies, eight from California and one from Connecticut.
Three Sylvester Stallone films shot entirely in Cincinnati and Cleveland each received over $5 million from the tax credit in 2024 and hired between 237 and 464 Ohio residents for each production.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“Superman” reportedly hired an estimated 3,254 Ohio residents during its 201-day production in the state.
For 2026, four productions are awarded tax credits totaling $17.9 million, which are expected to create 115 new jobs, more than $59 million in eligible production spending and $215 million in total production costs, according to a press release from the Ohio Department of Development.
Ohio has given at least $252 million in tax credits through this program since its inception in 2009 and millions more are in the process of being distributed.
Critical reception
Greg Lawson, research fellow at the right-leaning Buckeye Institute, told this news outlet the institute’s “long-standing position” has been to see a “lot fewer individual tax credits and carve outs.”
“I’m not sure how much long-term value (the motion picture tax credit) really brings to Ohio,” Lawson said.
To measure long-term value, The Buckeye Institute looks to see overall gross domestic product and job creation numbers go up.
“If you have an influx of folks coming in for a given film shoot or product, and those could be temporarily useful, but they tend to fade away,” Lawson said. “They also ... displace some of the spending in some of the other areas of the economy. And that’s what we don’t like to see.”
In 2023, a $25 million incentive was added to help build new studios and facilities in Ohio.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Even with the possibility of more long-term facilities making their way to the state, Lawson said there is a problem with “favoring” one industry.
“Why aren’t you favoring the Main Street business that’s been selling a service or a coffee or books?” he said.
Zach Schiller, research director at the left-leaning Policy Matters Ohio, said the tax credit is one of Ohio’s “many unproductive tax expenditures that favor corporations and the wealthy.”
“Some tax expenditures are beneficial, providing support for those who need it most,” he said. “The motion picture tax credit is not among them.”
He referenced a study of the tax credit by Cleveland State University in 2015, which found that between 2011 and 2015, the state spent $32 million on the tax credit, which generated $6.7 million in state and local tax revenue.
“It has become part of an endless race to the bottom among states seeking to lure movie production,” he said. “Ohio’s motion picture tax credit does not pay for itself and should be abolished.”
Not just ‘business and dollars’
While big names and production companies — including HBO, Netflix, Warner Bros, Marvel and more — have received these tax credits, many productions are from local, independent filmmakers, like Greg Siewny and Lana Read.
The two film producers out of Middletown have used the credit for multiple productions, utilizing local talent, crews and services. This includes “The Darker Side.”
“Water’s Edge,” a feature film produced by Siewny and directed by Read, received $113,100. Another production from the duo, “Stop the Wind,” has its application in progress as of November 2025.
“We are independent filmmakers,” Siewny said. “We are not making $20 million to $30 million films. The 30% tax credit gives us the ability to make a larger, more luxurious film that we wouldn’t have otherwise. Otherwise, we’d have to keep our budget much smaller.”
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Siewny said the application and award process is “very meticulous.”
“Every dollar is watched,” he said. “We have to have a CPA to watch our accounts. They’re very judicious with using our state tax dollars.”
At the end of production, a tax return must be filed with the state of Ohio. Getting the money takes about a year and a half after production ends, Siewny said.
Siewny said 90% of the money spent on their productions stays in Ohio, which goes to cast, crew, catering, equipment rental, hotels and flights, among other services.
“You can make beautiful, highly gorgeous films here for maybe 40% of what it would cost in other areas,” Siewny said.
Read said the people in the area and local architecture keeps top talent coming back for more, and the tax credit is part of the reason they keep their productions local.
“I do want to do films here locally, in my hometown and surrounding areas in Ohio, but when you can look at your investor and say, ‘You’re going to get 30% of your money back right now after we finish the film,’ that’s a huge selling point,” Read said.
While some critics say the tax credit only helps create temporary jobs, Siewny said crew they hire are from all over the state and “need employment.”
“They’re long-term people here ... the money stays here,” Siewny said.
“The social part of this, not just straight business and dollars, the morale, the pride that we see ... there is a lot of excitement and just generally fun that you can’t put a dollar figure on,” he said.
‘An incredible program’
Motion picture tax credit programs such as Ohio’s are not uncommon. Thirty-eight states have a tax credit, rebate or grant program for film production.
Lisa Grigsby, commissioner for FilmDayton, said by her estimates, for every dollar spent of incentive money, the return is about $3.29 to Ohio communities through job creation and local spend.
“This is happening in real speed,” Grigsby said. “It’s almost immediate impact as far as incentives go, and to my knowledge, it’s the quickest return on incentive that the state has.”
Grigsby said film jobs can be “hard to compare” to other industries.
“If you look at film, there’s no full-time jobs,” she said. “But if you go by hours, it’s full-time equivalency. If I work on three films a year, is that equal to a full-time job? That’s realistic for somebody local.”
“Without the film incentive, a lot of the crew that works here and can afford to live here and work here would probably not still live here,” Grigsby said.
FilmDayton was started in 2008 to draw productions to Dayton as opposed to Cincinnati or Cleveland.
Grigsby said many productions still opt for Cleveland and Cincinnati partly due to the fact that each city’s film commissions have higher budgets. FilmDayton’s budget is less than $100,000 a year, according to Grigsby.
Since FilmDayton’s inception in 2008, the commission has attracted over 100 productions to the area, which includes commercials, business to business productions, feature films and more. About a third of those productions received the tax credit, according to Grigsby.
Prior, who works for Crossroads Live, said the company put on a production of “TINA: The Tina Turner Musical” last year in Ohio and now “Elf The Musical” in 2025. Both productions utilized the tax credit.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
“We’d do one every year if we could,” she said. “It’s an incredible program.”
As part of the production, approximately 90 cast and crew came into Springfield for two-and-a-half weeks while the production is set up.
In terms of local crew, Prior estimated 65-75 additional people are contracted to support the production.
“There’s such skilled and talented labor here in Ohio, particularly at (Clark State), so we just feel lucky to be able to come here and do this work here,” Prior said.
When asked if the tour wouldn’t visit Ohio if the tax credit wasn’t available, Prior said Crossroads Live “always wants to be in Ohio ... we’re very happy to be here.”
But, she said, the tax credit makes the production “financially more affordable and appealing” to come to the state.
“It’s a draw to Ohio over other places, and quite frankly, it’s very competitive,” she said.
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