Location Scout Resource: State of Connecticut
Location scout resources for the New England U.S. State of Connecticut, including film office information, facts, news, other references and data of interest to location scouts, location managers and other production personnel.
Film Division, Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism
About the Film Division
Your First Stop for Producing in Connecticut
The Film Division of the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism actively assists local, national and international motion picture, TV and media production entities with finding locations in Connecticut, securing permits, hiring local cast and crew and other services.
*Connecticut has one of the most aggressive film production tax incentive programs in the U.S.
New London Film Commission / More Info via AFCI
New London City Hall
181 State Street, New London, CT 06320
Primary Email: gmckissick@nullci.new-london.ct.us
Secondary Email: pegcurtin@nullsnet.net
Primary Phone: +1 (860) 447-5201
Secondary Phone: +1 (860) 912-7627
20th Anniversary of Mystic Pizza's debut to be celebrated at Olde Mistick Village
– Stamford Plus Magazine
Visitors may use the fun, easy to follow map tour to enjoy Mystic Pizza film locations in New London, Mystic, Stonington, Stonington Borough and Pawcatuck. …
Shoot Online | Meet The Commish | Filming Incentive Program Takes Hold In Connecticut
By Robert Goldrich
July 21, 2006 — Heidi Hamilton became Connecticut’s Film Division Director last December, after having worked under the previous director. She brings to her position a broad-based background in law and filmmaking.
CT Film | Connecticut Digital Media & Motion Picture Tax Credit
“What happens when you combine majestic shorelines, quiet meadows, old world architecture, bucolic town greens, mill town grunge, skilled crew base and 30% tax credits?”
CT Film | Welcome Message from Film Division Director Heidi Hamilton
…In the closing days of the 2006 session, the General Assembly established tax credits for the production of digital media and motion pictures in Connecticut and renamed the division the Digital Media and Motion Picture Division (effective October 1, 2006). In an effort to encourage increased economic activity in the state and job growth, the legislation calls for a tax credit equal to 30% for qualified digital media and motion picture production, preproduction, postproduction and distribution expenses incurred in the state that exceed $50,000. The production tax credit is among the most aggressive programs in the country and will be administered by the Film Division. On our website you will find detailed information including a pre-application and instructions. Check frequently for updated program information.
Connecticut In-State Production Tax Incentive info links:
Location Scout Industry News: NY Times | Gone With the Cash: Films Go for the Best Tax Breaks
By Lisa W. Foderaro | White Plains, NY
Martin Scorsese’s crime drama The Departed may be a paean to the city of Boston, but a number of scenes featuring Leonardo DiCaprio were shot at the county courthouse and library here. It was a surprisingly apt title, since 2007, the year “The Departed” won the Academy Award for Best Picture, was also the year that many film and television shoots departed for Connecticut.
New York State’s 10% vs. neighboring states’ production tax incentives comparison (…via Times article):
- Connecticut = 30%
- Massachussetts = 25%
- New Jersey = 20%
note: Pennsylvania offers a 25% max production tax incentive with a state-wide annual cap of $75m per PA Film Office’s Economic Incentives.
Spoiler:
- CT is currently biting New York’s (as well as other neighboring states’) heels with aggressive film and production incentives.
Flip side:
- Connecticut as an entire state does not have the diversity of locations or depth of local crew resources as New York City, the lower Hudson Valley, northern NJ or western Long Island
- Look at the bottom of the Times article for past coverage and related searches
Nothing Finer Than a Diner (reprint on Zippy the Pinhead)
by David Daley | The Hartford Courant | May 30, 2000
Griffith drives across Westchester County parkways, through Worcester, and around Providence searching out diners to photograph. There’s a story for each one. There’s the Salvadoran diner in White Plains, NY where he accidentally ruined the Sunday lunch crowd with his camera, because patrons thought he might be an immigration agent. There are the diners that always seemed to close in early afternoon when he’d arrive, so Griffith printed up business cards claiming to be a location scout that he’d use to bluff his way inside.
(Bill) Griffith is the creator of the comic strip / character Zippy the Pinhead
- Zippy the Pinhead at IMDB
- Zippy the Pinhead at Wikipedia
- Zippy the Pinhead at MySpace
- Zippy the Pinhead / Google Search
Links of likely further location scout resource value:
- Connecticut Film Office
- New York State Film Office
- New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcast (MOFTB)
- Westchester County, NY Film Office
- Nassau County Long Island Film Office
- New Jersey Film Commission
- Massachussetts Film Bureau
- Pennsylvania State Film Office
- Hollywood Reporter
- Variety Magazine
- Shoot Online
- Internet Movie Database
Connecticut – Wikipedia
Connecticut is a U.S. state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the U.S. state of New York to the west and the south (with which it shares a water boundary in Long Island Sound).
Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, a major U.S. river that approximately bisects the state. Its capital city is Hartford. Much of southern and western Connecticut (along with the majority of the state’s population) is part of the New York metropolitan area; three of Connecticut’s eight counties are statistically included in the New York City combined statistical area, the same area is widely referred to as the Tri-State area. Connecticut’s center of population is in Cheshire, New Haven County, which is also located within the Tri-State area.
