LIFT Productions

LIFT Productions (an acronym for Louisiana Institute of Film Technology) was the first concerted private sector effort to combat "Runaway production" of film and television from the United States. In the 1990s the U.S. market lost over 100,000 production-related jobs, as motion picture and television programming increasingly became manufactured offshore. The outflow of work was in large part due to lucrative incentives offered by Canada, its provinces, and European Union members.

In 2002, at the urging of LIFT founders Malcolm Petal and John J Anderson, Louisiana passed a first-in-the-nation incentive program to compete directly with Canada. LIFT quickly leveraged those incentives to become one of the largest global manufacturers of made-for-television movies, low-budget feature films, music videos, and commercials. During its first five years of operation, LIFT was responsible for well over a billion dollars in production.

By 2007 LIFT had spread throughout the State of Louisiana, as well as opening satellite Production Houses in Arizona and Connecticut. It had also broken ground on a $200,000,000 production complex in Downtown New Orleans.

However, in June 2007 Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided LIFT's offices, making sweeping accusations of fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion, valued at tens of millions of dollars. Despite the sensational allegations, the investigation petered out, officially closing in 2009 without uncovering any crimes, fraud or abuse at LIFT. CEO and Founder Malcolm Petal pleaded guilty in an unrelated bribery case. By that time, though, LIFT was a defunct organization. Its creditors continue to sue the State of Louisiana which refuses to honor tax incentives promised to LIFT, despite the fact that LIFT was cleared of any wrongdoing.

LIFT was a Production House formed by New Orleans attorney Malcolm Petal, and Producer John J Anderson. Their stated goal was to create a production infrastructure in Louisiana to compete with Los Angeles and New York. Throughout 2001 and 2002 the founders lobbied the Louisiana legislature to pass a production incentive modeled after Canada's. The duo testified that Louisiana could become immediately competitive with much larger markets by recruiting U.S.-based productions back from Canada. The legislature enacted the first of several incentive packages proposed by the LIFT founders on June 1, 2002. That same month LIFT officially opened its doors.

During its early days LIFT concentrated primarily on music videos and commercials. Through its partnership with HSI Productions of California, LIFT produced a continuous stream of videos for a wide array of artists, including Mariah Carey, Jessica Simpson and LeAnn Rimes, as well as several national ad campaigns, including memorable spots for Lincoln and Payless Shoes.

The tax credit program was widely recognized and hailed for its generosity - applying to music videos and commercials, as well as films and television, and also because there was no ceiling on how much credit can be accrued per production or per year. Three separate sets of production initiatives - a sales tax exemption, a labor tax credit encouraging productions to hire Louisiana labor and an investor tax credit that offered credit on as much as 15% on overall production costs. Petal explained that "Without an incentive program it's almost impossible to finance independent films and television movies... So this really brought independent filmmaking, from a production angle, back to the United States, this Louisiana incentive." n

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