Movie crew and equipment stand off the set of “The Pale Blue Eye,” the Netflix movie that was filmed at Moraine State Park. The movie features Christian Bale and was shot in part at Moraine State Park's Davis Hollow Cabin and at the Covered Bridge at McConnells Mill in December and January. Seb Foltz/Butler Eagle

Film and hospitality industry workers advocated for support for the Pennsylvania film tax credit program at a livestreamed meeting with state senators on the Finance Committee on Wednesday morning.

The film tax credit program provides a 25% tax credit to film productions if Pennsylvania production expenses make up at least 60% of the film’s total budget. An additional 5% tax credit, for a total credit of 30%, is available for productions that meet the minimum state filming requirements at a Qualified Production Facility.

At the meeting, film professionals discussed their local connections to the Southwestern Pennsylvania film industry and asked the assembled senators to consider increasing funding for the program.

The cap for the program in Pennsylvania sits at $70 million. Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, which serves a 10-county region that includes Butler County, recommended the state increase the cap to $125 million. The number corresponds with a proposal in Senate Bill 321, introduced by Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-46th, last March.

“The Film Tax Credit Program, which is turning 18 years old this year, is an incredible success story,” Keezer wrote in her testimony. “One that should be a point of pride as a successful state program that has brought billions of dollars and thousands of jobs to the commonwealth.”

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