NEW JERSEY ABANDONING MOVIE TAX CREDIS

New Jersey, a state that has used its tax-credit program to entice producers of The Wrestler, Julie and Julia, and such TV shows as Law & Order: SVU and Mercy, is likely to become the first state in the nation to abandon such a program for budgetary reasons, the Associated Press observed on Wednesday. It quoted a spokesman for Gov. Chris Christie as saying, “Like so many other items and programs in virtually every corner of the state budget, cuts had to be made and priorities considered in closing a $10.7 billion budget gap. … Unfortunately, many things we would like to have kept could not be saved this year.” However, on Wednesday, a number of film and TV executives testified at a state senate hearing that they would not have brought their productions to the state without the tax-credit program being in place. Indeed, Brian O’Leary, a tax counsel for NBC Universal, testified that the company had decided to cancel the series Mercy instead of moving it to its USA Network as planned because of uncertainty over the state’s tax credit. The senate hearing was held in the Seacaucus warehouse where the series was filmed.