Film New Orleans

What Film New Orleans does

Film New Orleans is a municipal film office operating as a department within the City of New Orleans government structure, headquartered at 1300 Perdido St., New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 2011, the organization serves as the official liaison between film productions and the city, with statutory authority to issue film permits and coordinate across municipal departments. It is led by Director Carroll G. Morton and Production Manager Jennifer Kessler, and operates under the nola.gov government domain.

The office provides a unified service platform for film production activity in New Orleans. Core products include Location Film Permits (free for qualifying productions) and B-Roll Film Permits (issued at no cost for student films, drone filming, and city-wide B-roll), with productions required to carry $1,000,000 in general liability insurance naming the City as additionally insured. Beyond permitting, the office maintains a Production Directory via the Reel-Scout platform covering seven Louisiana parishes (Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Plaquemines, St. John the Baptist, and St. Charles), giving productions searchable access to local crews, vendors, and properties. Additional services include production coordination, workforce training program support, and facilitation of Louisiana's Motion Picture Production Tax Credit (a state-administered program offering up to 30-40% transferable credits for qualifying productions with minimum Louisiana expenditures of $300,000).

Film New Orleans does not operate as a revenue-generating enterprise. It is funded through the municipal government budget and economic development allocations, with permits issued free of cost. Its strategic positioning relies on three pillars: the regulatory monopoly on film permitting, the inherent production value of New Orleans' locations and architecture, and ecosystem partnerships—with Louisiana Economic Development for destination marketing, Array (Ava DuVernay's company) for diversity-focused crew sourcing, and Reel-Scout for directory infrastructure. The organization positions itself as 'one of the fastest growing production hubs in the country,' serving enterprise film/TV productions, independent and student filmmakers, and commercial/music video shoots.

Name

Film New Orleans

Legal name

Film New Orleans

Website

https://filmneworleans.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Film Office Services

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (512110)

SIC

Services-Allied To Motion Picture Production (7819)

akta.pro primary industry

Planning, Zoning, Permitting & Code Enforcement (BPAIACAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Locations Services (Scouting, Permits, Management) (MPADAFAE)

Keywords

• Film permit services
• Production coordination
• Municipal film office
• Location scouting
• Film tax incentives

Headquarters

HQ city

New Orleans

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Government Services: Film New Orleans operates as a city government department providing film production facilitation services, permitting, and logistical support. The organization is funded through municipal government budget and economic development initiatives to attract film production to New Orleans.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Film New Orleans is a municipal film office that issues location and B-roll film permits, manages production coordination and liaison services with city departments, maintains a free Production Directory / Resource Database of crew, vendors, and locations across seven Louisiana parishes, and facilitates information about Louisiana's Motion Picture Production Tax Credit for qualifying productions. All permit services are provided at no cost to productions, with the office funded through the City of New Orleans municipal budget and economic development initiatives.

Product overview

Film New Orleans is a municipal film office that serves as a unified service platform for film production coordination in New Orleans. The organization provides permit issuance and management (Location Film Permits and B-Roll Film Permits), a Production Directory/Resource Database for crew, vendors, and locations, production coordination and liaison services, and tax incentive facilitation. The core offerings work together as a one-stop-shop for film productions, with the permit systems as the primary regulatory product, the Resource Database as a workforce/location marketplace, and coordination services for production logistics. Notable partnerships include Reel-Scout for searchable directories and Array Crew for diversity initiatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Location Film Permits Free film permits issued to commercial productions filming on location in New Orleans. Productions must carry Certificate of Insurance with $1,000,000 general liability coverage naming the City of New Orleans as additionally insured. Permits have specific effective periods tied to filming duration.
• B-Roll Film Permits Free B-roll permits for student films, drone filming, and city-wide B-roll footage in New Orleans. Temporary B-roll permits are also available for productions without permitted parking through the Film Office.
• Production Directory / Resource Database Free searchable directory for crew, vendors, and property owners across seven Louisiana parishes, allowing productions to find local workforce, service providers, and filming locations. Listings must be updated every two years to remain active.
• Production Coordination Services Single-liaison service for film, television, documentary, and commercial productions covering permits, city services, and logistical support across New Orleans city departments, from initial requests through location filming.
• Tax Incentive Facilitation Facilitation of information and access to Louisiana's Motion Picture Production Tax Credit program, which offers a state-run transferable tax credit for productions with Louisiana expenditures exceeding $300,000 nationally or $50,000 for qualifying local productions.
• Film Workforce Training Support Support for film workforce training programs and educational programming for local independent filmmakers, part of the organization's mission to develop the regional film production workforce.

Named customers1 record

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Louisiana Economic DevelopmentcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFilm New Orleans partners with Louisiana Economic Development and other economic development organizations to market New Orleans as a leading center for film and culture. This partnership supports overall economic development goals for the region.
• Array (Ava DuVernay's Company)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFilm New Orleans partners with Array, filmmaker Ava DuVernay's production company, to host the Array Crew database - an equal opportunity platform connecting underrepresented populations (women, African American, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islands descent) to the film industry. Array Crew is supported by all major studios and streaming services.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Direct peers

• Atlanta Film Office (Metro Atlanta Film Office): A municipal-level film office supporting production activity in the Atlanta metro, providing permitting support, location scouting assistance, and production coordination. It is a direct peer in function and competes with New Orleans for inbound feature and series productions.
• San Francisco Film Office: Municipal film office for San Francisco, providing film permitting, production liaison, and location services. It is a directly comparable peer in scope and function, serving as a model for how a city government can organize production support services.
• Chicago Film Office: City of Chicago's film office responsible for film permits, production coordination, and location marketing. It performs the same municipal film-office function as Film New Orleans and competes for inbound feature, series, and commercial production work.
• FilmLA: FilmLA is the official film office for the City of Los Angeles and the most prominent municipal film permitting and coordination agency in the U.S. It is the closest direct functional analog to Film New Orleans, handling permits, location coordination, and production liaison services for one of the world's largest production markets.
• Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (NYC): New York City's municipal media and entertainment office issues film permits, coordinates city services, and markets NYC as a production destination. It is a directly comparable municipal film office performing the same permitting-plus-liaison function as Film New Orleans at city-government scale.
• Miami-Dade County Film Office: County-level film office providing permits, location assistance, and production coordination for the Miami-Dade region. It is a directly comparable peer offering similar location diversity (architecture, culture) to New Orleans as a draw for inbound productions.
• Austin Film Office: City of Austin's municipal film office handling film permitting, location coordination, and production marketing for the Texas capital. It is a directly comparable peer competing for productions weighing Texas versus Louisiana incentives.

Regional players

• Vancouver Film Commission (Creative BC): Regional film commission serving Vancouver and British Columbia, providing permitting support and production services for one of North America's largest production hubs. While based in Canada, it operates a directly analogous film office model and competes for productions that might otherwise shoot in the U.S.
• Louisiana Entertainment (Louisiana Economic Development): The state-level film office administering Louisiana's Motion Picture Production Tax Credit. Film New Orleans explicitly partners with and directs productions to Louisiana Entertainment, making it the parent-tier peer governing the state incentive on which Film New Orleans' value proposition rests.
• Georgia Film Office (Georgia Department of Economic Development): The state-level film office administering Georgia's 30% transferable film tax credit — a direct competitor to Louisiana's incentive. As the most aggressive peer incentive program, it is a key competitive benchmark that determines whether productions choose Georgia or Louisiana.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/FilmNewOrleans

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Film New Orleans