Legislation that provides tax credits for film and television production in Rhode Island has again landed the state a starring role as the location of a television pilot.
The pilot, ordered by CBS and titled “Waterfront,” will be about a colorful mayor of Providence and other politicians in the state. The cast will be led by Joe Pantoliano and Billy Baldwin and will likely begin production in the spring.
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At a State House event Wednesday announcing the production, both the actors and writer/producer Jack Orman lauded the tax credits enacted last year as a factor in the decision to shoot the show in Rhode Island.
Pantoliano, an actor on “The Sopranos” on HBO, will play Mayor Jimmy Centrella and is also a producer of the pilot.
The legislation provides a corporate income tax credit to companies that spend at least $300,000 in Rhode Island for television or film production, and a bigger credit to those that spend more than $5 million.
This is the fourth production to choose Rhode Island as a location since the creation of the credits was announced. Showtime’s “Brotherhood” series, which is set to premiere in June, is set in Rhode Island and shot entirely within the state, and Disney’s “Underdog” is scheduled to start filming in the state next month. The Wesley Snipes/Cybill Shepherd movie “Hard Luck” was filmed in the state last year.
Baldwin, who will play the Rhode Island attorney general in the pilot, said Rhode Island’s tax credits are among the best in the nation, and said they would pay off by pumping money into Rhode Island’s economy.
He estimated that for the $2 million or so a production company might spend directly on an episode of a TV program, $4 million or $5 million might be generated in the local economy.
Baldwin said he chose this project over six others he was offered this year, all of which would be shot in Los Angeles.
