A new report suggests that some regions giving big bucks to Hollywood aren’t actually creating as many local jobs as their sky-high production spending figures imply, with the exception of California, New York and the U.K.Kevin Hart (left), Karen Gillan, Dwayne Johnson and Jack aBlack star in ‘Jumanji 3.’ HIRAM GARCIA/SONY PICTURE
Findings from economists about film subsidy programs are almost universally negative: It’s a race to the bottom with negligible economic benefits for the state where the biggest winner is Hollywood.
Consider Oklahoma. In 2023, the state was having its film moment. Major productions had been flocking to the region as it poured more and more money into its rebate program. The subsidies lured Reservation Dogs. Taylor Sheridan’s Tulsa King followed, as did Twisters.
An inflection point came when Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon rolled into town. The production transformed a Northern Oklahoma city to double as 1920s Fairfax, where the killings at the center of the $200 million epic occurred. Carpenters, set decorators and landscapers, among other crew, were hired for the makeover. The thinking for the financial incentives is that the state will see a major boost to its local economy by hosting big-budget movies and TV shows.
But a report published on Wednesday evaluating how effective film subsidies are at creating local employment said that only 30 percent of the $100 million Oklahoma sees in production spend each year goes to in-state workers in the form of wages. The findings issued by workforce training operator Kalison Studios suggest that many of the regions touting sky-high production spending aren’t actually generating as many jobs for their residents as the figures imply.
Some industry hotspots with relatively low local hire rates compared to the amount they give in financial incentives: Ontario (86 percent), New Mexico (82 percent), Australia (82 percent), Georgia (72 percent) and Hungary (68 percent). A few of these film hubs share structural issues related to rapid production growth outpacing local workforce development, film subsidy programs not prioritizing local hiring and senior roles being filled by more experienced workers who live in other regions.
“Georgia is surprisingly low,” says Kalison Studios founder Glenn Kalison. “At the same time, it has greatest opportunity for improvement. And it’s doing the most to address that. So I think that’s in their favor. But there has been a transient class moving out of Georgia and folks flying in from L.A.”
For years, Georgia sold its filming subsidy as an investment in middle-class jobs and marketed itself as “Hollywood of the South.” It was the home of Marvel Studios and other tentpoles, like The Suicide Squad, Creed III and Bad Boys for Life. Around this time, an auditor had estimated that the state only saw a return of 19 cents in tax revenue for every dollar it gave to studios, which collectively got $5.2 billion from 2015 to 2022. Still, Georgia stuck by the program.
But as other regions instituted more attractive film incentives, the state saw fewer and fewer movies and TV shows. In 2025, production spending plummeted to $2.3 billion across 245 production after peaking in 2022 at $4.4 billion across 412 productions. Marvel Studios has left for the U.K., where workers are paid less and studios don’t have to cover the cost of their health insurance. Now, soundstages and other production infrastructure largely sit empty and unused. For studios, the chase for filming subsidies is endless.
