Incentives

Oklahoma offers an incentive with a base of 20% to projects that film principal photography in the state. For more information, please see below and the additional tabs in this section.

Application Timeline:
To be eligible for the Filmed in Oklahoma Act rebate program, a project must meet all of the eligibility and benchmark requirements as outlined in the Administrative Rules. For projects with a budget of less than $7.5 Million, OFMO will review and notify applicants of approval and denial according to the schedule outlined below:

*NOTE:  Projects with a budget of at least $7.5 Million may be reviewed and awarded or denied on an ongoing basis.

Benchmarks:
If a project is awarded conditional prequalification, there are three benchmarks leading up to principal photography where the production must submit documentation as specified in the Administrative Rules.

• Prior to paying salaries or wages to a production company’s employee in Oklahoma, the production must submit a certificate of workers’ compensation insurance with limits pursuant to Oklahoma Law.
• 45 days before principal photography the production must submit:
  • This is the last day that a project can submit an eligibility application
  • 50% proof of funding for the full production budget
• 30 days before principal photography the production must submit:
  • 100% proof of funding for the full production budget
  • Current one-line schedule
  • Updated script (if applicable)
• 10 days before principal photography the production must submit:
  • A certificate of general liability insurance with a minimum limit of $1,000,000 in coverage (or a binder for such with a state date no later than the estimated Start of Pre-Production)
  • A certificate of automobile liability insurance with minimums of $250,000/500,000/250,000 coverage (or a binder for such with a state date no later than the estimated Start of Pre-Production) OR certification that no employee of the Production will drive an automobile as part of the Production
• During principal photography a production must include members of OF+MO on the daily call sheet distribution list.
• Within 90 days of completion of the production (or the last qualified expenditure, if later), the production must submit their final application on the OF+MO website.

Crew:
All Oklahoma Expatriate Crew Members are required to fill out a declaration of Expatriate Status Form. Click here to download this form.

For information about collecting documents to prove Oklahoma Resident status of crew members, please contact the third-party CPA that your production is using for the final rebate review. OF+MO no longer oversees crew member proof of Oklahoma residency and does not have a residency form mandated by our office. It is up to each production’s CPA to determine which documents they will need the production to supply for each crew member to sufficiently prove residency.

Required Safety Bulletins:
As part of the prequalification requirements, productions must agree to send pertinent safety bulletins to cast and crew once production has begun.

Please find link to for industry safety forms.
https://www.csatf.org/production-affairs-safety/safety-bulletins/

Projects approved for the Filmed in Oklahoma Act may receive a rebate of 20-30%, depending on which available percentage uplift opportunities the project qualifies for. Available uplifts are outlined below:

• 20% Base Incentive
• 3% Rural County Uplift
  • 25% filmed on location in a county less than 250,000 people: 3% uplift
  • *NOTE: For your days to count as being filmed in a rural county, you must be filming on location, excluding soundstage production, in a rural county.
• 2% Small Municipality Uplift*
  • 25% filmed on location in a municipality less than 25,000 people: 2% uplift
  • *NOTE: For your days to count as being filmed in a rural municipality, you must be filming on location, excluding soundstage production, in a rural municipality.
• 5% Soundstage Uplift
  • 25% filmed at a certified soundstage facility: 5% uplift
  • *In order to meet either of the certified soundstage uplifts, 3% of direct expenditures must be spent at the soundstage in addition to meeting the minimum filming percentage threshold.
• 2% / 5% TV Uplift
  • 2% for a pilot or 5% for a season
  • If a pilot is part of a multi-film deal, the project can qualify for the multi-film 5%, but cannot also receive the pilot 2%
• 5% Multi-Film Deal Uplift
  • 5% if multi-film deal
• 3% Post-Production Uplift
  • If at least 3% of qualified expenditures spent on Oklahoma post-production: 3% uplift
• 2% Music Uplift
  • If at least 1% of qualified expenditures spent on Oklahoma music production: 2% uplift

Each production approved for the Filmed in Oklahoma Act rebate program is required to hire a certain amount of apprentices depending on their direct qualified production expenditures.

• < $7.5m Direct QPE – 2 apprentices
• $7.5m – $15m – 4 apprentices
• $15m – $25m – 8 apprentices
• > $25m – 16 apprentices

According to the Administrative Rules, “a person is considered an Apprentice as defined by the act, if he or she meets all of the following criteria:
(1) The Apprentice is an Oklahoma resident;
(2) The Apprentice is supervised by an experienced Master Tradesperson or Department Head in the trade, craft or profession being practiced by the Apprentice in the production;
(3) The Apprentice works in a trade recognized by OFMO as necessary for a film production;
(4) Unless otherwise approved by OFMO in writing, the Apprentice works under the supervision of the Master Tradesperson or Department Head at least one-half (1/2) of the days the Master Tradesperson or Department Head under which the Apprentice is learning is actively engaged in the film;
(5) The Apprentice completes a questionnaire or survey provided by OFMO to be returned to OFMO with the Final Application.”

Also per the Administrative Rules, “a “Master Tradesperson” means a skilled and experienced tradesperson who instructs an Apprentice through use of practical experience so the Apprentice may learn a trade, craft or profession.”

If you are looking for apprentices to hire for your production, please visit our Production Directory, which has a designated Apprentice category. Apprentices may be hired in the following departments:

• Accounting
• Art
• Camera
• Casting
• Construction
• Costume/Wardrobe
• Craft Service
• Director
• Editing
• Electric and Lighting
• Grip
• Hair
• Health & Safety
• Locations
• Make-up
• Medic
• Post Production
• Producers
• Production Office
• Research
• Set
• Script
• Set Decoration
• Sound
• Transportation

If you have any questions about the apprentice requirement, please contact Wendi O’Connor.

Productions that are accepted into the Filmed in Oklahoma Act rebate program can receive a rebate uplift of up to 5% if they film at least 25% of main crew principal photography on a Certified Soundstage and spend at least 3% of their direct expenditures at the soundstage.

The list of current Certified Soundstages is below. Please click each link to see more information about each soundstage in the production directory.

• Castle Row Studios
• Cherokee Film Studio, Owasso Campus
• Green Pastures Studio
• Prairie Surf Media

Per the Administrative Rules, the requirements to be a Certified Soundstage are as follows:

150:150-1-6. Soundstage certification
A facility may be considered a State Certified Industry Standard Soundstage Facility (State Certified Soundstage Facility), if a building, or complex of buildings, building improvements and associated back-lot facilities on a property meets all of the following criteria:

• Multiple Productions are, or are intended to be, regularly produced at the facility throughout the year;
• The primary revenue source for such a facility is from industry Productions and ancillary services to such Productions;
• The facility is marketed and made available to third party productions planning to rent such facility and the facility is able to be listed on the OFMO website for such rental;
• The facility provides additional industry specific on-site services and amenities for third party Productions;
• The facility contains at least 7,500 sq feet of combined and dedicated studio space which:
  • Features acoustically treated walls;
  • Achieves a noise criterion rating of 30 or better
  • Has a height of at least 15 feet and;
  • Is equipped with sufficient heating and air conditioning for filming without the need for supplemental units (but supplemental units may be used)
  • Otherwise meets the criteria for a qualified soundstage facility as defined in the Act.

If you own a facility that you believe would qualify as a Certified Soundstage, please fill out the form below:

The stand-alone post-production incentive offers a 20% base incentive for post-production work done in Oklahoma by projects that were filmed outside of Oklahoma. There are additional opportunities for rebate percentage uplifts outlined below.

Eligible Oklahoma Post-Production Expenditures:
Eligible post-production expenses include, but are not limited to:
1. Sound recording or mixing;
2. Color grading;
3. Editorial work;
4. Visual effects;
5. Animation;
6. Deliverables, excluding marketing and advertising;
7. Music production, recording, mixing or composition;
8. Licensing of Oklahoma music; and
9. Editing equipment or editing facility rental
10. Wages for Oklahoma crew or Oklahoma Expatriate crew performing post-production services

Application Timeline:
Applications for the stand-alone post-production incentive will be awarded on the same timeline as projects filmed in-state, but instead of first date of principal photography, the first date of post-production in Oklahoma will be considered. For more information about the application timeline, please see below. Additionally, applications for the stand-alone post-production incentive are not subject to the benchmarks required for projects filmed in the state of Oklahoma but will be required to submit full proof of funding in the Eligibility Application.

Per the Administrative Rules, applications for the stand-alone post-production incentive may be submitted no earlier than one (1) year prior to the occurrence of the post-production activity occurring in Oklahoma.

Application Requirements:
(A) The post-production budget or budget top sheet including post-production
services and
(B) Proof of funding for the post-production services.

Eligible Uplifts:
Stand-Alone Post-Production applications are eligible for the following uplifts, in addition to the 20% base incentive:

• 2% / 5% TV Uplift
  • 2% for a pilot or 5% for a season

This final application link is for projects that were pre-qualified for the Filmed in Oklahoma Act.

If your project was pre-qualified prior to August, 2021, please see the Compete with Canada Act final application in the section below.

Final Rebate Review Materiality Threshold: For all projects, the materiality threshold used for CPA Review is the lesser of 1% of QOE or $100,000.

The Point of Purchase Sales Tax Exemption exempts qualified film productions from paying sales tax on property or services related to the film production. There is no minimum budget or expenditure requirement to take advantage of this incentive. The state’s current sales tax is 4.5%. Local taxes, which vary from city to city and county to county, average between 3% and 4%. There is not a deadline to apply to this program, but it does typically take 3-4 weeks to process the application. If you would like more information, please contact David Francis at the Oklahoma Tax Commission (information included below).

David Francis
Business Registration Manager
City/County Services Manager
Phone: 405.522.4950
dfrancis@tax.ok.gov

This Point of Purchase Sales Tax Exemption cannot be used in conjunction with the Filmed in Oklahoma Act Rebate Program.

The Point of Purchase Sales Tax Exemption is facilitated by the Oklahoma Tax Commission. Download and complete the Point of Purchase Sales Tax Exemption form HERE (pdf). Submit to the Oklahoma Tax Commission by mailing the completed form to the following address:

Oklahoma Tax Commission
P.O. Box 26920
Oklahoma City, OK, 73126

The Compete with Canada Act was passed in 2001 and established Oklahoma’s first film incentive program. The Compete with Canada Act rebate program is no longer accepting new applications, but applicants that applied and were prequalified under this act will fill out the Compete with Canada Act final application.

The Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program statute is found in Oklahoma Statute Title 68 Section 3621 through 3626.

For information about the Compete with Canada Act film rebate program, please review the Administrative Rules.

Have a question? Please review our FAQ page.

For additional questions about the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program, please contact OF+MO’s Director, Jeanette Stanton, at 405-431-0951 or email at Jeanette.Stanton@okcommerce.gov.

Only final applications for the Compete with Canada act are currently being accepted. If you have a new project that you would like to submit for eligibility to the Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program, please see the Filmed in Oklahoma Act program information at the top of this page.

Final Rebate Review Materiality Threshold: For projects with QOE over $250,000, the materiality threshold used for CPA Review is the lesser of 1% of QOE or $100,000. For projects with QOE under $250,000, contact OFMO.

If you have any questions, please contact OF+MO’s Director, Jeanette Stanton, at 405-431-0951 or email at Jeanette.Stanton@okcommerce.gov.