More than $68 million in film tax credits were claimed in 2023, with insurance companies claiming most of them, according to the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Annual Tax Report issued by the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services.
Of the $208.2 million in total tax credits claimed in 2023, the Film and Digital Media Production tax credit accounted for $61.1 million and the Film Infrastructure tax credit accounted for another $6.8 million. Those tax credits are used to incentivize film production in the state, largely by NBCUniversal and WWE in Stamford, and ESPN in Bristol, but Connecticut has also become one of the prime locations for filming Christmas movies.
While the state issues these film tax credits to film production companies, the credits are then sold by the film companies mostly to Connecticut’s insurance industry.
Of the $106.1 million in total tax credits claimed by insurance companies in 2023, film tax credits made up a little more than half – $57.7 million – and were the single largest source of tax credits claimed by the insurance industry. 2023’s figures were similar to those of 2022, when $61 million in film tax credits were claimed, and $49 million of them were claimed by insurance companies.
Established under Gov. Dannel Malloy’s administration as one of several business incentive structures created to grow jobs and increase state revenue during a decade of economic stagnation and budget deficits, Connecticut’s film tax credits have been under scrutiny for years following reports that they were a net loss for the state.
Earlier reports issued by Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) officials up to 2019 indicated the credits were a net loss for the state and created few jobs. Connecticut ended the Digital Animation Tax credit previously issued to animation companies after the one digital film company based in Connecticut – Blue Sky Studios – closed in 2021.
In 2021, the DECD commissioned a film industry consultant to produce a study on the state’s film tax credit – called the Olsberg report — which, according to DECD’s reports, did not include an estimate of the fiscal impact of the tax credits to the state, but rather looked at a broader, overall economic picture and determined that the state’s film tax credits were an economic win for Connecticut. Since then, DECD has reported the film tax credits as a net positive for Connecticut in its annual reports.
A 2024 state audit found hundreds of millions in film tax credits had been awarded through a process that, according to auditors, cut some corners and improperly utilized application fees, much of which the DECD disputed. An earlier audit found the impact of the film tax credit had been overestimated by $600,000, and in 2024, the state policy organization Voices for Children issued their own study indicating the credit is a net loss for taxpayers.
According to DECD’s 2025 annual report, Connecticut issued $176.7 million in tax credits to companies purporting to spend $634 million on in-state expenditures.
Although the department was not yet able to estimate job numbers as required by a statutory change in 2023, the DECD claims the Film and Digital Media Production Tax Credit generated total sales of $841 million and generated $22.8 million in net revenue to the state. However, the Film Infrastructure Tax Credit amounted to a $17.8 million loss to the state. The DECD recommended that both programs continue because they operate “in tandem.”
“Since the Film Infrastructure Tax Credit operates in tandem with the Film and Digital Media Production Tax Credit, it is not possible to attribute long-term industry job creation to one program in isolation,” the 2025 report says. “As a result, the fiscal impacts presented here likely understate the broader economic benefits associated with maintaining a competitive film production ecosystem in Connecticut.”
Legislative proposals to eliminate the film tax credit have been met with stiff pushback from those in the industry. Recently, the television show Hell’s Kitchen began filming in Connecticut and taking advantage of the state’s film tax credits. However, the state will not release any details about the deal, claiming that release would violate trade secrets.
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Film credit tax to insurance companies is a huge fraud!!!
It was suggested to share the following from another article. Thank you for shedding light. A film industry is not talk shows, local news, nor is it sports broadcast. The issue has been obfuscated, compromised, and the lack of clarity has allowed for dubious activities for a number of years now: that there is a legit, full-blown film industry in Connecticut:
Stop, full stop…
There is no film industry in our state…full stop.. It hasn’t been way before Andrew Gernhard of Synthetic Cinema’s social from a few weeks ago…”Why Movies Stopped Filming in Connecticut”
It’s been dead as industry for years..DO NOT LISTEN to a few who can benefit from pushing this false story that it is living..the few who insist on that with their press releases are only getting freebis help..free social digital, free marketing publicity free student help! And it isn;t just a problem with goofy mixers..they r now calling them film festivals! Not UR run of the mill film festivals either but ridiculus ones targeting higher ed..so they make UR school a partner with them on a new film festival comin soon 2 ur neighborhood…too many film festivals as it is including legit ones no need 4 inundated waste fests in connecticut people…
Mr Gorman Bechard has said first in 2013 and said again:
You’re paying good money to meet with people who are more or less no different than you… because the people you’re actually “mixing” with are the other people who paid $50 and are sitting next to you in the lecture hall. It might make for interesting conversation, but it certainly won’t advance your career. This has also mirrored the experiences expressed by attendees at festival type events by the same organizers.
“Let’s start this lecture by me telling you where NOT to start: These so-called “Film Mixers” or “Film Industry Conferences” or whatever their promoters are calling them today. They truly piss me off. They are nothing but a rip-off for these people who sincerely want to work in film. Their promoters take advantage of that desire, and what do they deliver in return? Absolutely nothing. Look at the people running these things. Have you ever heard or seen any of their films? (If you have, did you actually make it all the way through before shutting the damn thing off?) Have you seen films based on their scripts? Do their acting abilities make you jealous? Is there anything about their careers that makes you say: “Yes, that’s what I want for my life?” Most likely not. Most likely the people running and speaking at these meetups and mixers are not working full time in the film industry. Mostly likely they’re producing wedding videos, or doing something completely unrelated to film to pay their bills. Most likely they’re very similar to you, except that they’ve figured out a way to get you to pay $50 to listen to them speak.”
So, the short and long answer. There is no film industry in Connecticut. Any film industry in Connecticut is not growing. Any film industry system in Connecticut is not thriving. Facts. Opinion pieces submitted with a different view are just that, opinions, written by someone wanting to market their vanity production, b level “film” or service. The opinion pieves found elsewhere are also quite old in terms of stats (i.e. productions in the state go back 2-30 years or more). And a film industry in Connecticut should not include talk shows, news or sports and a lot of those are gone by the wayside (Wilkos and Karamo are cancelled in Connecticut), Hallmark and Gernhard are also finished in Connecticut (moved to Buffalo).
“Connecticut has also become one of the prime locations for filming Christmas movies.” Update please to reflect that the Hallmark productions in Connecticut have now also left. Andrew Gernhard of the production company doing them has stated in multiple sources that they, and films in general, ‘are no longer coming to Connecticut.” He makes the case that it is due to an iffy and precarious scenario where productions will not want to stick around for a reasonable time due to an impending tax incentive removal; however, the case has also been made in many places how any “film industry in Connecticut” isn’t an industry, that the hey day is long gone for films as an industry in Connecticut, and that a disappointing series of hyperbole, and in some cases, people saying they were fleeced, but supposed industry leaders and gurus–all making Connecticut even less attractive as a film destination. BTW–Thank you for your excellent reporting. It is eye-opening.