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Council approves $100,000 pilot film incentive to attract on-location productions
Summary
Broken Arrow approved a pilot film incentive program that will offer a 10% rebate on locally documented production spending and reimburse hotel room nights, using an initial $100,000 from city reserves to stimulate filming and related economic activity.
Broken Arrow City Council on Tuesday approved a pilot film-incentive program and an initial allocation of $100,000 to encourage motion-picture and television productions to shoot in the city.
Mikaela Barton, tourism manager, told the council the state film incentive (enacted in 2021) has driven more than $530 million in economic impact statewide and that several Oklahoma jurisdictions now complement the state program with local incentives. The city’s proposal is a pilot that would provide a 10% rebate on qualifying local expenditures documented by a production and continue the city’s existing hotel-night reimbursement policy (currently $500 per 12 room nights for events) for production-related lodging.
Barton said the pilot would set a minimum project spend of $5,000 and rely on the Visit Broken Arrow board to evaluate preliminary project applications; final reimbursements would be made after city verification of local receipts. The staff recommendation includes an extra outreach component: working with local hotels to make underused conference space available to production companies and listing city locations in state and regional filming directories.
Council members who spoke in favor noted Oklahoma’s broader industry momentum and the potential local benefits for hotels, restaurants and construction contractors. One councilor who serves on the Visit Broken Arrow board said local hoteliers and the tourism board had reviewed the plan and endorsed the pilot.
The council approved the $100,000 pilot and directed staff to implement the program and bring projects to the Visit Broken Arrow board for initial review and final reimbursement verification. Staff said the pilot would be limited to the initial $100,000 of city funding allocated from reserves and that there would be a formal application, review and verification process modeled on existing city grant procedures.
