Hoping to lure more TV and movie productions to the state, Maryland has increased the amount of tax incentives it is offering to studios from $1 million a year ago to $7.5 million this year. Writing in the Baltimore Sun , TV columnist David Zurawik observed today (Thursday) that the boost in incentives arrives "in time so that it could make a difference as to whether or not HBO decides to film its new political satire, VEEP, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in Maryland -- should the pilot that was filmed here be picked up as a series." Zurawik observed that with only $1 million in incentive money, the state, once the home of such series as NBC's Homicide Life on the Street and HBO's The Wire , had seen productions going elsewhere. "Maryland had a hard time competing with states that had better packages to offer Hollywood producers," he observed. But Jack Gerbes director of the Maryland Film Office, told the Sun "The passage of this legislation will allow us to become more competitive in attracting productions to our state, create jobs for our film industry and generate economic activity for Maryland."

14/04/2011