Ohio Administrative Code|Rule 122:21-1-02 | Eligibility; application process.

                                                
(A) An applicant who is a corporation,
		  partnership, limited liability company, or other form or business entity must
		  be registered with the Ohio secretary of state to do business in
		  Ohio.
(B) Any application submitted must be
		  submitted on a form prescribed by the director and meet the requirements set
		  forth in division (B) of section 122.85 of the Revised Code and the budgetary
		  requirements of division (C) of section 122.85 of the Revised
		  Code.
(1) Documentation that shows the applicant has secured
			 funding equal to at least fifty per cent of the total estimated production
			 budget as required by division (B) of section 122.85 of the Revised Code can be
			 evidenced by any one or a combination of paragraphs (B)(1)(a) to (B)(1)(d) of
			 this rule.
(a) Private financing
				documented by any one or more of the following:
(i) Term sheet signed by a financial institution or other
				  investment source declaring its total financial investment in the applicant
				  production, the date that the investment will be made, the term of the
				  investment and any condition for closing. 
(ii) Executed loan agreement demonstrating a commitment to
				  loan a specific amount of financing for the applicant production, the date the
				  commitment was made and an established period in which the investment will take
				  place. 
(iii) Commitment letter signed by a financial institution or
				  other investment source declaring its total financial investment in the
				  applicant production, the date the commitment was made and an established
				  period the investment will take place.
(b) Public financing
				documented by an approved council or commission ordinance, development
				agreement, letter of commitment or approval letter from a jurisdiction or
				public agency that contains the dollar amount of financing for the applicant
				production.
(c) Investor equity
				documented by, at a minimum, a signed letter of commitment from the investor
				containing the dollar amount committed and information from a financial
				institution or third-party accountant demonstrating to the satisfaction of the
				director the committed investor equity is unencumbered and available for the
				applicant production.
(d) Other funding source
				deemed to be acceptably documented by the director.
(2) Documentation of financial ability to undertake and
			 complete the production also includes submission of a planned outline for the
			 total funding of the production, which includes the expected sources of
			 funding, dollar amounts, and anticipated times for receipt of
			 funding.
(C) Eligible production expenditures are
		  as authorized by section 122.85 of the Revised Code, which does not include
		  alcoholic beverages. An applicant's eligible production expenditures may
		  not include the expenditures for the purchase of alcoholic
		  beverages.
(D) The application must include a
		  certification by the applicant that the production does not require records to
		  be maintained under 18 United States Code 2257 with respect to sexually
		  explicit content.
(E) The application process includes the
		  following steps:
(1) Applications are reviewed in two rounds each state
			 fiscal year, as required by division (C) of section 122.85 of the Revised
			 Code.
(a) For the first round
				each state fiscal year, applications may be submitted April fifteenth through
				June first.
(b) For the second round
				each state fiscal year, applications may be submitted October fifteenth through
				December first.
(2) Following the closing of the
			 application window for each round, the director will review applications for
			 completeness. If the information submitted in an application is materially
			 insufficient, requiring more than basic clarifications or supplemental
			 information to be evaluated and ranked, the director will notify the applicant
			 that its application will not be evaluated during that round. The applicant is
			 not restricted from applying again in subsequent rounds. 
(3) Upon review of the
			 applications, the director may request clarification or supplemental
			 information about a production. The applicant must respond to the director by
			 June thirtieth for applications submitted in the first round of each state
			 fiscal year and by December thirty-first for applications submitted in the
			 second round of each state fiscal year. If an applicant fails to respond or
			 provide the requested information, the director may determine the
			 applicant's application insufficient for evaluation for tax credit
			 eligibility in that round. If the director determines an applicant's
			 application is insufficient for evaluation for tax credit eligibility, the
			 applicant is not restricted from reapplying for evaluation in subsequent
			 rounds.
(F) For each round the director scores
		  and ranks all completed applications based on the extent of positive economic
		  impact a production is likely to have in Ohio and the potential effect on
		  developing a permanent workforce in motion picture or theatrical production
		  industries in Ohio, in accordance with division (C) of section 122.85 of the
		  Revised Code.
(1) Economic impact is based on the applicants total
			 estimated eligible expenditures in Ohio directly associated with the
			 production.
(a) The application in
				each round with the highest amount of total estimated eligible expenditures is
				assigned a score of ten.
(b) All other
				applications are given a score determined by calculating the total estimated
				eligible expenditures in Ohio directly associated with the applicants
				production divided by the highest estimated eligible expenditures for an
				applicant production in that round and multiplying the resulting quotient by
				ten. For example, in a round where the highest amount of estimated eligible
				expenditures of all applicants is one million dollars and an applicants
				estimated eligible expenditures is eight hundred fifty thousand dollars, the
				applicant would receive a score of 8.5 for economic impact.
(2) The effect on developing a permanent workforce in the
			 motion picture or theatrical production industries is determined as
			 follows:
(a) first, by the number
				of new jobs created.
(i) The number of new jobs created by an applicant project
				  is derived by calculating the quotient resulting from the total estimated hours
				  for which a wage greater than one and one half times the federal minimum wage
				  will be paid to Ohio residents in the production divided by two-thousand
				  eighty.
(ii) The application with the highest number of new jobs
				  created in a round is given a score of five. All other applications are given
				  the score calculated by dividing the number of new jobs created by the project
				  by the highest number of new jobs created for applications in the round and
				  multiplying the resulting quotient by five. For example, if an applicant
				  project has twenty-five new jobs created and the project with highest amount of
				  new jobs created in that round is one hundred, the applicant project receives a
				  score of 1.25 for new jobs.
(b) Second, by the amount
				of eligible payroll added by employees in Ohio. For purposes of this section,
				eligible payroll means the estimated amount of compensation used to determine
				the withholding obligations in division (A) of section 5747.06 of the Revised
				Code and estimated to be paid by the applicant during the production to an
				employee of the production who is a resident of Ohio or an employee who is not
				a resident of Ohio and whose compensation is not exempt from the tax imposed
				under section 5747.02 of the Revised Code pursuant to a reciprocity agreement
				with another state under division (A)(3) of section 5747.05 of the Revised
				Code.
The applicant project with the highest amount of estimated
				total eligible payroll expenditures is given a score of five. All other
				applicants are given the score calculated by dividing the applicant project
				total eligible payroll by the highest amount of total eligible payroll for a
				project for the round and multiplying the resulting quotient by five. For
				example, if an applicant project has three hundred thousand dollars of total
				eligible payroll and the highest amount of total eligible payroll for a project
				in that round is one million dollars the applicant project is given a score of
				1.5 for eligible payroll added by employees in Ohio.
(3) Starting with television series and then all other
			 production types, the director ranks all applicants in each round by
			 calculating the sum of the scores derived for positive economic impact and
			 effect on developing a permanent workforce in motion picture or theatrical
			 production industries in Ohio from highest to lowest in accordance with
			 division (C) of section 122.85 of the Revised Code. The director finds
			 applicants eligible for Ohio motion picture tax credit in descending order
			 until the amount of funds available for allocation in that round have either
			 been exhausted or are insufficient to allocate credits for the total estimated
			 tax credit amount for the next highest ranked project in that round, as
			 determined by the director.
(G) The director will send notice of eligibility for motion
		  picture tax credit by the following dates:
(1) July thirty first for the first round of each state
			 fiscal year; and,
(2) January thirty first for the second round of each
			 fiscal year.