What you give up by shooting in New Hampshire
There's no credit to model. If a financier's plan assumes a percentage back on New Hampshire spend, strike it. The state's film bureau sits inside the Division of Travel and Tourism Development and works as a film commission does elsewhere: location photos and suggestions, referrals from its crew and services roster, and guidance on which state agency issues which permit. Reach it at the address on the Visit NH film page.
What New Hampshire does have is a tax structure that treats a production's purchases lightly, and a permitting system that is simpler than most.
Taxes a line producer should budget
The Department of Revenue Administration's "Taxes at a Glance" list covers business profits, business enterprise, interest and dividends, meals and rooms, property, real estate transfer, and several excise taxes. There's no general sales tax on that list. Expendables, lumber for set construction, and hard drives bought in-state carry no state sales tax line.
The tax that does hit a shoot is Meals and Rooms (Rentals), at 8.5% since October 1, 2021. It applies to:
- Hotel and other sleeping accommodations
- Taxable restaurant meals
- Motor vehicle rentals
Worked example: a $1,000,000 feature in the Lakes Region
A 20-day shoot houses 25 out-of-town cast and crew for 24 nights at $150 a night and rents six passenger vans and cube trucks for $18,000.
- Room-nights: 25 x 24 = 600
- Lodging: 600 x $150 = $90,000
- M&R tax on lodging: $90,000 x 8.5% = $7,650
- M&R tax on vehicle rentals: $18,000 x 8.5% = $1,530
- Total M&R tax: $9,180
Put that in your travel and living accounts and in transportation. There's no credit on the other side of the ledger, so the $1,000,000 production gets $0 back. In a state with a 25% credit on qualified spend, even $600,000 of qualifying costs would return $150,000.
Permits, location by location
The film bureau's FAQ is specific, and it's worth reading before your tech scout:
| Location type | What's required |
|---|---|
| Private property | Owner permission only. No state permit. |
| City or town property | Varies by municipality. Call each town. |
| State parks | Special Use Permit from the Division of Parks and Recreation, $100 administrative fee, certificate of insurance. Another $100 if you apply less than 30 days out. |
| Numbered state routes | Application for a Parade Permit or Other Activity on State Highway System with DOT, plus the town. No fee. |
| Unnumbered local roads | Coordinate the closure with the town. |
| State House grounds | Special Event Application with Administrative Services at least 5 business days ahead. Interior requests need the Speaker and Senate President. |
| Mt. Washington summit | State park Special Use Permit plus a USDA Forest Service permit. |
| Elsewhere in the White Mountain National Forest | Forest Service permit. |
Two details save time. The bureau says an issued state Special Use Permit usually stands in for your location agreement on state-managed land, and any contract beyond that goes through the agency, the Attorney General's Office, and the Executive Council, so start that approval early. For minors, New Hampshire has no entertainment-specific youth employment law, so general youth employment rules apply.
Where to look for money instead
The film bureau posts outside funding calls, mostly foundation grants and documentary funds, on its funding opportunities page. For state incentives, the neighbors are the comparison. Look at Massachusetts, Maine, and Vermont, then New York, whose upstate uplift adds 10% on labor for qualifying shoots outside the New York City area. The incentives hub and the incentive calculator let you run the same budget through each, and how film tax credits work covers the differences between credit types.
Storiara's budgeting feature tracks costs by above the line, below the line, post, and other.