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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Pixomondo Plans $1.2 Million Visual Effects Studio In Baton Rouge

03/01/2012
Pixomondo LLC, the German-based international visual effects production company, will make a capital investment of $1.2 million in a 6,000-square-foot Baton Rouge, Louisiana, facility at the Celtic Media Centre.

Louisiana Economic Development estimates the studio facility will create more than 120 direct and indirect jobs. Annual salaries for directly employed workers will average more than $65,000, plus benefits.

"Opening an office in Baton Rouge fits perfectly with our overall company vision," said Thilo Kuther, Pixomondo founder and CEO. "Louisiana offers a very generous production tax credit that we can pass on to our clients to bolster our project load. We've already connected with the Louisiana State University computer science department to help set up remote render farms and virtualization with our other studios."

Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "Pixomondo already operates a dozen VFX studios worldwide and they could have chosen anywhere to create a new studio. Pixomondo's decision speaks volumes about how far Louisiana has come in improving our business climate, in providing competitive incentives, in developing the 21st century workforce that companies demand, and in attracting a highly successful film industry."

State officials began talks six months ago with Pixomondo to gauge the company's interest in establishing a visual effects studio that could partner with major movie and TV productions in Baton Rouge and Louisiana, where annual film production now exceeds $1 billion and ranks third behind the California and New York markets. The rapid growth of the Louisiana film industry attracted the company, as did the state's permanent tax credits of up to 35 percent for Louisiana-based payroll expenditures on digital media and film projects. For every dollar of tax credits spent on film production, Louisiana gains more than five dollars of economic activity.

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