North Carolina beefs up incentive..

After lobbying from showbiz, North Carolina has bumped the maximum payout on its film production tax incentive from $7.5 million to $20 million.North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue signed the bill amending the program into law last week. A separate bill, also recently signed, eliminates the 6.9% corporate income tax on the incentive refunds.

The state, which refunds 25% of taxes paid on qualifying film productions, will offer a 15% incentive to videogame developers or those “developing interactive digital media,” reflecting the growth of the vidgame production community in Raleigh-Durham’s Research Triangle Park.

The state’s film office said showbiz brought $326 million into the state last year — the CW’s “One Tree Hill” is shooting its eighth season in North Carolina.

During her March visit to Los Angeles, film execs complained to Perdue that the caps on per-production and per-person payouts were too low and should be removed.

Variety/  Thielman/Excerpts/ July 27, 2010