Robinson warehouse and has applied for similar status
"The government shouldn't be in the business of helping some businesses over others. It makes more sense to lower the tax rate for all businesses, as Pennsylvania has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the nation," said Cindy Hamill-Dahlgreen, spokeswoman for the Commonwealth Foundation, a free-market policy group in Harrisburg.
The state program provides a tax credit of as much as 25 percent of a filmmaker's production budget, provided that at least 60 percent of that budget is spent in Pennsylvania. Productions using studios in Pennsylvania that meet certain criteria are eligible for an additional 5 percent credit.
Pennsylvania has eight such studios, known as "qualified production facilities." They include 31st Street Studios in the Strip District; Island Studios in McKees Rocks; WQED Multimedia in Oakland; and Pittsburgh Studios in Churchill. Others are in Delaware County, Philadelphia and Chester County.
Cyndi Casteel recently opened studio space inside a 120,000-square-foot Robinson warehouse and has applied for similar status.
"The resources are finite. The pie can only be cut up so many times," said Chris Breakwell, founder of 31st Street Studios in the Strip District, where filming last year included two major motion pictures, "The Last Witch Hunter," starring Vin Diesel, and a Will Smith film with the working title "Concussion."