Headline rate, caps, minimum spend, payroll fringe, and the official film office for Kentucky. Reference data for producers, line producers, and financiers structuring a Kentucky shoot.
+5% enhanced county
Illustrative reference. Verify before deal.
Kentucky's refundable tax credit offers a 30% base rate with a 5% uplift for productions filming in designated enhanced counties, bringing the maximum to 35%. The program was made refundable in 2022 and the annual cap was raised to $75 million, signaling durable state commitment to growing production volume. The minimum spend is $250,000 for features and $20,000 for documentaries, making it one of the more accessible programs for smaller projects. Louisville and Lexington serve as the primary production hubs, with crew growth accelerating since the program's expansion, and the state's rolling hills, horse country, and bourbon-trail architecture offer distinctive visual settings. The Kentucky Entertainment Incentive is administered through the Cabinet for Economic Development, and credits are refundable and non-transferable; unused credits cannot be carried forward.
The questions producers ask first when sizing a Kentucky shoot, answered against the state's current program structure and fringe environment.
Headline rate is the start, not the end. Compare Kentucky side-by-side with every other U.S. jurisdiction on caps, minimum spend, refundability, and fringe before locking the location.
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