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Trust adopts amended film incentive program, adds definitions and audit requirement
Summary
The Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust approved an amended and restated film incentive program that expands qualifying project types, adds an audit requirement and creates a limited waiver to the city's 50% in-city shooting requirement for large productions.
Miss Simpson, a city presenter, told the Oklahoma City Economic Development Trust on June 17 that staff recommended amending the city's film incentive policy to reflect changes in the industry and tighten compliance. The trustees voted to approve a joint resolution adopting the amended and restated film incentive program.
Simpson said the city's 2021 film rebate policy still worked in many ways but needed clearer definitions and exceptions to keep projects in Oklahoma City as distribution and production models change. "The film industry is changing at a really rapid pace," she said, citing direct-to-streaming work, webisodes and mobile-first content as examples.
Under the amended program, qualifying expenditures were broadened to explicitly include sound stages, preproduction, production and postproduction activities, and to reward locally produced music licensing, editing, scoring and postproduction work. Simpson said the city will allow out-of-city shoots that remain on payroll and where payroll taxes are collected in Oklahoma City to count toward eligibility.
The resolution creates a limited waiver of the existing rule that required 50 percent of shooting days to occur in Oklahoma City. The waiver applies when a project will spend at least $2,000,000 in qualifying local expenditures; Simpson said the change was aimed at attracting episodic work that otherwise would go to neighboring jurisdictions. "If a project is gonna spend at least $2,000,000 we waive that 50% requirement," she said.
Staff also added contract-level compliance protections: projects must display the city's logo in final credits and submit a third-party certified CPA review of expenditures before receiving the rebate. Simpson said the CPA certification is required to "look at every expenditure, every document" and protect the city's interest.
Trustees had no questions in the meeting transcript. The resolution was moved, seconded and approved without a recorded roll-call in the public transcript.
The new rules seek to make Oklahoma City more competitive for film and episodic production while creating clearer auditability of rebate claims. Staff said any additional services budgeted under the contract would require explicit requests and city manager approval before funds would be spent.
