New Partnership To Promote Filmmaking, Television Production In Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS – The Circle City may soon be coming to a television or movie screen near you.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announced the city’s new partnership with Visit Indy and the Central Indiana Community Foundation to promote filmmaking and television production in the city Wednesday.

Dubbed “Film Indy”, the program will streamline the process for acquiring filming permits and identifying possible set locations.

Foundation President and CEO Brian Payne hopes the program will bolster the city’s arts scene.

“For us to be a thriving cultural city, we need artists and film and entertainment professionals and television professionals to be able to live here and have a thriving career,” Payne said.

The program’s three partners invested $300,000 to fund the program’s two year trial run.

However, Film Indy will not be offering any financial incentives or tax breaks to filmmakers or production companies.

Still, Ballard maintains the program will have a positive economic impact on Indianapolis.

“This is another opportunity for us to market Indianapolis and to bring people from the outside and see what a great place this is,” Ballard said. “It could be a source of revenue for some folks [in Indianapolis].”

Film Indy officially launches in January.