THE GOAL of the Rhode Island movie tax-credit law has been to grow a Rhode Island-based film and television industry that can provide permanent jobs for Rhode Islanders. The current law has been criticized for being overly generous to out-of-state production companies without enough benefits to the people of Rhode Island.

I believe that the criticism is warranted. But with a simple adjustment, we can address that problem and achieve the original intent of the legislation — to create an Ocean State-based film/television industry that offers immediate job creation and long-term improvements to the state’s economy.

There has been a film credit on the books since January 2000. The intent of the law, then and today, is much the same — to attract film and television production.

The appeal of the film-production business is understandable. It is a non-polluting, high-profile industry that creates high-paying jobs and provides training for local labor. Its large influx of capital can energize urban areas, and fuel tourism and such related industries as restaurants and hotels. Many states have enacted various forms of film-production tax incentives, and continue to modify them to stay competitive.

The tax-credit law passed in January 2000 is similar to the law on the books today, but with two significant exceptions.

The first is that in the original legislation the tax credit could only be used by Rhode Island residents to offset their state taxes. When Steven Feinberg, the current director of the state Film Office, started his job in 2004, he was intent on making the law more effective for attracting film and television production to the state.

My suggestion, which certainly was not original, was to make the tax credits transferable, so, like the state historic-property tax credits, they could be sold.

That change was made in 2005. All of a sudden it was possible for out-of-state companies to come and spend their money making their film or television series here, get their tax credit and sell it to Rhode Island residents, and the out-of-state film companies could use the cash to offset the cost of their productions.

Since that change in the law, we have had an estimated $200 million of film and television production in the Ocean State.

That brings me to the second change in the law. Unfortunately, this change has had a negative impact.

In the original law, to qualify for a tax credit, 51 percent of a production had to be “filmed in Rhode Island.” But it defined the clause “filmed in Rhode Island” to include all aspects of film production — pre-production, production and post-production.

Under the original law, if a company spent 51 percent of its total budget, or 51 percent of its total days of production in the Ocean State, then it could qualify for a tax credit.

But in 2006, the language was altered to read “51 percent of principal photography days.” That change did nothing to increase the attraction for out-of-state companies to come here and film, but it disqualified the other lucrative aspects of pre- and post-production — which represent up to 75 percent of the money spent on a film or television series and potentially thousands of well-paying jobs.

Those jobs are what’s called below-the-line professionals — the endless stream of names at the end of the credits. Some include research and writing, location scouting, costume and set design and building, story boarding, casting, editing, music and sound design, animation and graphics, special effects, not to mention caterers, drivers and even lawyers and accountants.

Most of those professionals are independent contractors who own or work for small businesses. Those are the businesses that build the foundation of the film industry. If we want film and television production to become a permanent industry in Rhode Island, which is the intent of the legislation, then we need to use the credit to encourage those businesses to start up here or move here and stay here. Those businesses build infrastructure and support services, and create permanent jobs. People who own and work for those businesses buy houses, pay taxes, send their children to school here and could provide training programs for Rhode Islanders and jobs to graduates of local universities so we can keep them here.

In addition, having those businesses and support services with their skilled professionals based in Rhode Island makes it even more attractive for outside productions to film here because they will be able to rent their equipment here, and do their sound design, music, editing, graphics and animation here. And they won’t have to put up crews.

All that saves the out-of-state companies money and makes more money for Rhode Islanders. And many of those businesses, such as in music and sound design, editing, graphics and animation, can also develop a clientele that’s not just dependent on productions coming to town.

I understand the lure of seeing the Ocean State on the screen, but that does not build a film industry.

A few years ago there was a prison movie (Killer) made at the Adult Correctional Institutions starring James Wood as a sado-masochistic guard. The film provided work for local production people but I doubt there was any ancillary value in developing a tourist trade for sado-masochists. So Rhode Island on screen had no or even negative value.

On the other hand, if a young George Lucas wanted to build sets for the next Star Wars in an abandoned mill and create special effects on his computer, no one in the movie theaters would see the Ocean State on the screen. But Rhode Island would still benefit from that production being here.

If a movie studio such as Pixar wanted to make an animated feature such as Toy Story, it wouldn’t do it here because it wouldn’t be filming any principal photography here and so could not qualify for a tax credit. And yet, I don’t think that anyone would deny that if we had a major animation studio in Rhode Island, perhaps one that develops films and television series based on Hasbro characters, such as The Transformers, it would be a boon to our economy.

Out-of-state companies coming here and filming for three months is great for priming the pump of an economic engine, but by making the tax-credit requirement closer to its original language, we can greatly leverage the hundreds of millions of dollars of temporary spending into a permanent film and television industry.

We can achieve that goal by simply changing the language in the law back to what it had been — or clarify it by amending the law with alternatives to the 51-percent principal-photography-days requirement. Those alternatives could be 51 percent of total production budget spent, or 51 percent of total days of production in Rhode Island.

The tax credit is succeeding at keeping a flow of out-of-state production money coming in, but we need to make sure it stays here by leveraging it to build support services and infrastructure for a Rhode Island-based film/television industry that offers immediate job creation and a long-term boost for our state’s economic growth. That can happen with a simple change to the law.

Gary Glassman is executive producer/director of Providence Pictures.