Quad Cities Film Office Prepares to Market Region for Productions
After being established more than three and a half years ago, the Quad Cities Film Office has been working quietly behind the scenes to help attract more film and TV production to the region.
“Over the past months, our focus has been on strengthening marketing and infrastructure, increasing visibility for the Quad Cities, building relationships locally and statewide, and laying the groundwork to attract and support film, TV, and commercial production,” the QCA Film Office recently posted on Facebook. “From workforce support to community screenings to promotional materials and strategic outreach, this work is all about positioning the QC as a film-friendly, production-ready region!
“We’re grateful for the growing support from partners across the Quad Cities and excited about what’s ahead as we continue to grow the creative economy—one project at a time,” it said.
“While the Quad Cities Film Office isn’t directly involved in the development or fundraising of the Fresh Films soundstage, we see this as a major asset for the region,” QCA Film Office manager Holly Sparkman said of the planned studio in Rock Island.
“Purpose-built production infrastructure like this makes the Quad Cities far more competitive when we’re talking with producers and studios about bringing projects here,” she said.
The QCA Film Office website says the region “is an excellent choice for film production.”
Quad Cities Film Office manager Holly Sparkman (center) with director/writer William Rock of Will Do Films and producer Amy Nigg at a December 2025 screening of
“A Jury of Her Peers” at Last Picture House, Davenport. (QCA Film Office)
“We can help you get set up with financial incentives, convenient locations, and talent as needed,” the site says. “We’re located on the Mississippi River in a bi-state location offering a vast number of urban and rural film settings, just three hours away from Chicago but at a far more affordable cost. The Quad-Cities is home to filmmakers behind such hits as “A Quiet Place,” “65” and “Road To Perdition,” the TV shows “American Pickers” and “School Spirits,” and has been the location of national and international film projects.”
“People are less and less interested in doing things in Los Angeles. They’re having trouble with their incentives,” Doug Miller, a longtime QC film and media consultant, said recently. He’s worked as liaison with the QCA Film Office, which also was established with a state grant through the city of Rock Island, in 2022.
The states of Georgia and Illinois are being very aggressive with film tax-credit incentives, with Illinois expanding its offerings this past December. Miller said people who are not Illinois residents can work on productions, and still qualify for the Illinois tax credits (comprising a set percentage of qualified spending). The highlights of that package are:
- Illinois resident labor: New rate of 35% (up from 30%) on labor expenditures for Illinois residents.
- Illinois vendor spend: New rate of 35% (up from 30%) on spending with Illinois-based vendors.
- Non-resident positions: Up to 13 crew (from 9), 30% credit on the first $500,000 in wages each.
- Program sunset: December 31, 2038 (from 2033), offering long-term stability for production and budget planning.
Non-resident actors receive a 30% credit on the first $500,000 per actor, with limits based on production budget. And productions filmed in the Quad Cities can earn up to an additional 20% in stackable bonuses, potentially reaching a total credit of 55% on eligible expenditures:
- 15% tax credit bonus for salaries paid to Illinois residents from high-poverty or high-unemployment areas.
- 5% bonuses for labor expenditures of Illinois residents when filming outside Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties.
In 35 years of helping to bring and schedule film shoots in the QC, Miller said he’s only been asked for studio space twice. “I’m hoping there’s a demand for studio space,” he said.
Having soundstages is a missing piece of the puzzle, for the QC to attract production, said Sparkman, manager of the film office, which doesn’t have a physical location (other than being listed at Rock Island City Hall, 1528 3rd Ave.). She helped Fresh Films with the state grant application in 2023, but has not been part of fundraising for the new facility. They also weren’t involved in site selection.
“Explaining where the Quad Cities are – I’ve been doing it about 40 years, and it’s not easy to do, especially in the movie business,” Miller said.
“What we’ve been working on the last few months is the structure of how we’re going to promote the Quad Cities,” Sparkman said. She hopes to put a package together that will list services, locations and available talent in the region, which has been started on the film office website.
The purpose of the office is to:
- expand marketing and promotion efforts for inbound production;
- create and maintain a location database of properties and services;
- provide scouting assistance to prospective production companies;
- assist in connecting production with State of Illinois agencies;
- support education and training opportunities in entertainment production and
- work collaboratively with local production teams and to create a film friendly Quad Cities.
The QC Film Office is a member of the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI). Sparkman has been taking AFCI training to enable the QC Film Office to function as comparable local offices do in other states, and in Chicago.
“We can compete with Georgia, Arkansas and even California,” she said. The Illinois incentives do limit the number of non-residents on film crews, she noted.
When the new facility actually gets built and close to opening, Sparkman and Miller will promote it, and send marketing materials on it to production companies, studios and filmmakers nationwide. AFCI has lots of those contacts.
“We’ve got big spaces they can use. Right now, we have the Expo Center, the Bend (XPO),” she said. “The studio having dedicated space for that type of thing. They can have their key offices there.”
“Talking to other film offices has been super helpful,” Sparkman said. “The ones in Illinois, the one in Champaign-Urbana, their office runs through their visitors’ bureau and they had a grant to do a new soundstage studio, and they converted an old airplane hangar. They’ve been doing gangbusters. I know we’re a couple years behind them.”
A QC Film Office brochure boasts: “Urban Energy, Rural Charm, Modern Momentum,” and “Smart, Scalable, Always Affordable.” The office will serve as a one-stop shop for visiting crews to access needed food, lodging, transportation, equipment, and other support services in the area.
Offering generous state incentives, low costs and new studio facilities are all vital to making it financially attractive for the QC, Miller said.
Those incentives allow productions to stay in Illinois while choosing locations like Rock Island that offer lower operating costs, available crew, and professional infrastructure. Rock Line Studios helps extend the reach of Illinois’ film economy beyond Chicago — keeping more productions, jobs, and spending in-state.
During Alternating Currents last August, the QC Film Office hosted two free screenings at The Speakeasy in downtown Rock Island of “Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” (filmed in Fort Madison, Iowa) by cinematographer, producer and director Edgar Barens. It was nominated for an Academy Award in 2014.
For more information on the film office, visit its website HERE.
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