RI offers a 25% tax credit to film and production companies spending over $300,000 in-state.

Tango Pix, a Providence company specializing in high-definition TV production and digital media, has an application pending for about $175,000 in tax credits... Last year, expecting the credits, the company hired three new employees.

Curt Worden, Tango Pix president and executive producer, said the opportunity to get tax credits "made us more comfortable hiring new employees and adding additional service capabilities to our facility...

...Steven Feinberg, director of the Film and Television Office, said...he knows of four production-related companies that will be moving to Rhode Island this year.

In addition, he's been discussing with Hasbro the possibility of building a studio in Rhode Island. "Hasbro has been making decisions to keep productions in our state because of the state's investment in the state," Feinberg said.

However, joint analysis by the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College and the RI Public Expenditure Council suggested that the tax credit, though it costs Rhode Island $25 million, creates few permanent jobs - most out-of-state companies will buy goods and services in RI and then leave.