Wisconsin is finally getting in on all the lights, camera and action.

It?s been just over a month since tax incentives for filming in Wisconsin went into effect on Jan. 1, and already several films are in preproduction within the state.

Incentives include a 25 percent tax credit that can be claimed by investors in Wisconsin-based productions and a refundable 25 percent tax credit on direct production expenditures on films, TV movies, TV series, broadcast ads and video games, according to the website for Film Wisconsin. In addition, there is a 15 percent state income tax credit for film, television or electronic game production businesses that open shop in Wisconsin.

So far the incentives have very publicly drawn Academy Award-nominated director Michael Mann, a University of Wisconsin alumnus, to scout locations for his Universal Pictures film, ?Public Enemies.? The film will star Johnny Depp as infamous bank robber John Dillinger and Christian Bale as FBI agent Melvin Purvis.

Gene Dahloff, executive director of the Baraboo Chamber of Commerce, led Mann and his staff through a tour of Baraboo locations. Dahloff said the director seemed impressed with what the city had to offer.

?There are a wide variety of communities that they were looking at across Wisconsin. We were just one of many. We?re certainly hoping that they decide to shoot some of the scenes here in Baraboo,? Dahloff said.

He added Universal Pictures had reached a verbal agreement with an M&I Bank in Richland Center, Wis.

Hoping for the economic boosts and visibility associated with the film, Baraboo is competing with cities such as Oshkosh, which has been scouted for the use of its historic Grand Opera House and downtown area.

Film Wisconsin, the private organization responsible for securing the incentives with the Wisconsin Arts Board, is a fairly new enterprise in itself, having formed in 2005 after state budget cuts forced the Wisconsin Film Office to close.

?Now we really have tremendous potential and great interest from film producers and video productions outfits from all around the country,? said Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, chair of the Wisconsin Arts Board. ?It brings the promise of increased economic activity not just in Milwaukee or in Madison, but all throughout the state.?

Without naming names, Scott Robbe, executive director for Film Wisconsin, said, ?There is a major feature film that we?ll be announcing shortly. We?re waiting for them to go through the final phases of the application process.?

Robbe estimates the incentives will bring tens to hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue to the state economy and new jobs within the next few years.

?Wisconsin was featured in an article in the Hollywood Reporter saying that Wisconsin had their eyes on creating a new third coast,? Robbe said.

While the impending appearance of Johnny Depp in the Badger State has residents literally swooning over Wisconsin?s burgeoning film industry, other projects in preproduction are just as much a testimony to the effectiveness of the new tax incentives.

Producer Michael Nehs of Frontsight Productions in Chicago moved the production of his film ?Blue World,? about a priest and a porn star, to the Milwaukee-Waukesha area.

A Wisconsin native, Nehs said the reason for the move was almost completely because of the new incentives, which he called ?brilliant.?

?The way they are set up really are attractive to the industry,? Nehs said. ?I just think that it’s about time Wisconsin did something because Milwaukee?s a gorgeous city, Madison?s a gorgeous city, and you can really get anything from the cityscape through really mountainous regions. You can really cover almost anything you need, unless you need a tropical island.?

Perhaps Wisconsin?s greatest appeal for independent filmmakers is an unprecedented deal with Marcus Theaters, which guarantees that films shot in Wisconsin will be screened in Marcus Theaters throughout the Midwest.

?For a filmmaker, getting a theatrical release is the coup de gras,? said Jay Schillinger of Pulse Communications in Green Bay, where he will shoot and produce his $1 million film ?The Violinist.? ?The whole city is going to be excited because we are filming a movie here. It?s good for Marcus, it?s good for Green Bay, it?s good for Wisconsin, it?s good for filmmakers. It?s really just a win-win for everybody.?

The future of the film industry in Wisconsin appears just as promising as the present, especially for UW students. Lawton said she hopes to develop internships for UW students with Film Wisconsin to help students interested in the state?s newest industry develop contacts within the entertainment field.

?For us to develop the infrastructure for the industry and workforce that we need for it to grow, those internships will be important,? Lawton said. ?We?re just getting going, but that?s what I see in the future.?