Marcus Thomas, left, and Greg Gormley, of Kay Studios in East Providence, have a state-of-the-art movie studio complete with green-screen technology. They say business has been sparse since lawmakers proposed a cap on the film tax-credit program.

The Providence Journal / Bob Thayer

PROVIDENCE — Does Rhode Island have what it takes to compete with Massachusetts and Connecticut for the title of New England’s movie-making king?

Supporters say tax-credit programs now offered in all three states are no longer enough. That honor hinges on a state-of-the-art studio and production facility.

A development consortium, backed by a California studio company, made a glamorous pitch to lawmakers here last night, promising that a proposed $75-million studio in Hopkinton would bring jobs and economic stimulus to southern Rhode Island, while offering a sense of credibility to the state’s film industry.

But the show will only go on if lawmakers pass a leadership-backed bill allowing 20-percent tax credits on building costs, offsetting the overall studio construction price tag by about $15 million.

“One of the things we’ve been striving for is to have infrastructure, to have a home for some of these larger productions” that have come to this state since 2005, when it enacted film and television credits, said Steven Feinberg, director of the Rhode Island Film & Television Office.

The Ocean State isn’t alone. Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation to offer as much as $60 million in tax credits for the construction of film studios there. Last week, a joint legislative committee recommended the bill’s approval in 5-to-4 vote. Studio projects have been proposed in Plymouth and Weymouth.

Developers for Rhode Island Studios say their sprawling 155,000- to 200,000-square-foot facility would offer eight stages, plus production, office and lot space on 100 acres off Route 95 at Exit 2. They’re also planning a 150-room hotel. The studio is expected to create 2,200 production-related jobs each year.

Those projections are based on similar outcomes at a sister studio in Albuquerque, N.M. –– owned by California developer Hal Katersky, who will have a hand in the Hopkinton deal. That studio has generated millions in movie-revenue and is now playing host to the forthcoming Terminator 4.

But unlike other House leaders who’ve backed the studio project from the beginning, Finance Chairman Steven M. Costantino appeared less star-struck. At a hearing last night, he grilled Rhode Island Studios development partner Ralph Palumbo on whether there’s any guarantee those jobs will materialize.

Costantino questioned whether the state can afford to assist a movie studio, given the budget deficit.

“If you’re going to say you have jobs, then you’ll have to prove you have the jobs and then you’ll get the credit,” Costantino said, offering a possible amendment. “It’s as simple as that because I don’t think Hopkinton wants an empty building.”

The developers and bill sponsor Brian Patrick Kennedy, D-Hopkinton, expressed a willingness to discuss particulars, reiterating that infrastructure is critical to the industry’s future here.

What nobody said in last night’s hearing is that Rhode Island already has an 85,000 square-foot studio. North Kingstown’s Kay Studios offers shooting and production spaces and five acres of outdoor lots. Kay also owns a smaller facility in East Providence that’s set up for special effects and television shoots.

Its owners, Greg Gormley and Marcus Thomas, say they have no objections to the proposed Hopkinton studio. Another Rhode Island facility would show the industry that this state is serious about movie-making, says Thomas, who has worked on Hollywood sets including The Grinch, CSI and The X-Files. Film crews would also be more likely to come to a state that gives them more options, he adds.

The bigger problem, they say, is a separate proposed cap on the state’s film tax-credit program. Without full-fledged credits, Rhode Island will see productions migrate to Massachusetts, which two years ago mimicked this state’s 25-percent credits, and to Connecticut, which passed a 30-percent tax credit law last year.

On a recent morning, Kay Studios’ East Providence warehouse was empty but for its owners and the enormous, unused green screen that loomed behind them. As soon as the state proposed instituting a cap, business, Gormley said, dried up. In the interim, they’ve made ends meet by renting out equipment to film crews in Massachusetts, where credits aren’t in question.

“We’ve heard L.A. is not looking at Rhode Island because they’re not sure if we’re committed to the movie industry,” Gormley said. “So for now we’re on hold.”

But the cap proposal is not a done deal, as it hasn’t yet been approved by a Senate committee nearly three months after an initial hearing.

The fate of the movie studio is also uncertain. No vote was taken last night and lawmakers have not indicated whether they will push for passage in the final weeks of the session.

But Kennedy says it’s time the state determines what role it will play in the business. “Do we continue to dip our toes in the water and hope it is warm enough to venture out for a swim?” he asked. “We basically have to make a decision.”

cneedham@projo.com