A $267,000 state subsidy for Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show to film in Minnesota for the Super Bowl draws controversy

Boondoggle

Minnesota Film and TV announced this week it is changing its "snowbate" program after The Tonight Show took $267,000 in subsidies to film in Minnesota after the 2018 Super Bowl. "The whole affair shows how absurd the discourse around tax breaks and other giveaways for movie and TV production can get," explains Boondogg's Pat Garofalo. "First, the background: Fallon filmed an episode in Minnesota for the night of the 2018 Super Bowl, which was played in Minneapolis. It qualified, after a bit of a back and forth with Minnesota officials, for a state program that uses rebates to incentivize film and TV production – despite the fact that an on-location Super Bowl episode pretty much has to take place where the Super Bowl is, so no incentivizing was necessary. (Case in point: Fallon put together a Super Bowl broadcast in Arizona in 2015 without receiving any funding, since the state has no film incentive program.) After realizing their state had wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on a New York variety show – which went to, among other things, Fallon’s salary – Minnesota officials were understandably upset. So this week, they rolled out changes to the 'Snowbate' program, as it’s called."