NEW YORK - Governor David Paterson Wednesday announced that he signed legislation that will expand the Empire State film production tax credit program and help attract even more movie and television industry business to New York. The significant expansion of the tax credit will keep New York the most popular destination outside of Hollywood for filmmakers, and further promote an industry that creates billions of dollars in economic activity in New York each year.

“It is vital to our state’s economy that New York remains a premier destination for film and television productions,” said Governor Paterson. “The entertainment industry plays an important role in fostering economic growth by promoting our state on movie and television screens across the world, and creating thousands of jobs for New Yorkers.”

For the last few years New York has been losing its film and television business to neighboring states that enacted their own tax credits – a loss that has cost the New York economy approximately $750 million. This aggressive state legislation triples the percentage of qualified film production costs eligible for the credit from 10 percent to 30 percent. Additionally, it extends the program, which was originally set to expire in 2011, for an additional two years to 2013.