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The loss of the state tax incentives for film and television production has claimed its first victim.

Fringe, the hit show on Fox produced by Warner Brothers, is packing up its sets and moving to Vancouver, Canada, for next season. Members of the crew were informed today.

The show, which will finish shooting its current season here by the end of April, employs around 100 people and spends more than $4 million an episode in New York City.

Sources say Warner Brothers began shopping for a new location a month ago when word got around that the state’s tax incentive program had run out of money. Gov. David Paterson tripled an existing tax break to 30% of production expenditures last April to compete with similar offers in other states. The state allocated $685 million to fund the program through 2013, but the incentive was so successful that it ran out of money in less than 10 months.

Now the film industry is fighting to get the program re-funded in the upcoming budget, expected to be announced April 1. But damage has already been done.

Employees of the show had hoped Warner Brothers would at least wait to see if the tax credits were renewed. “We’re all fighting for our livelihood and nobody understands the rational,” said Beth Kushnick, set decorator on the show. “Why is there collateral damage when they don’t even have the word about the tax credit?”

A Warner Brothers spokeswoman declined to immediately comment.

Source: Crains New York