BATON ROUGE — LSU's film and television production program has received yet another cash infusion from the state's Entertainment Development Fund, a spokesperson from Louisiana Economic Development said Tuesday.

The $200,000 grant will be used to facilitate a more robust production program with the end goal of helping to grow the talent pipeline for the state's film production workforce. According to LED, the state maintains 10,000 jobs in the film industry, generating $1 billion in revenue annually.

LSU will use the grant to expand faculty in its Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television program, which partners with the digital art program at the university's School of Art and the digital media arts and engineering program at the Center for Computation & Technology. The grant will facilitate a new full-time faculty member who will help advance the program into previously untapped arenas of digital and virtual filmmaking.

The three-year grant comes on the heels of LSU's film program increasing enrollment six-fold over the past eight years.

"LSU has been building one of the finest film and television programs, which ranks among the nation's top 100 film programs and serves as a talent pipeline for Louisiana's entertainment industry," Josh Fleig, LED chief innovation officer, said. "With the help of this grant, LSU will help to educate and train the next generation of film industry leaders in Louisiana."

This is the second such grant LSU has received, previously receiving a five-year, $1.25 million entertainment workforce grant to create LSU's virtual production program. The virtual production program now includes 15 courses and has hundreds of students across disciplines.

The program even led to nearly $8 million in funding from NASA for a digital recreation of the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

"This grant recognizes LSU's potential to become a significant hub for film and digital media training in the southeast," Eric Lau, dean of the LSU College of Music & Dramatic Arts, said. "LED's support will ensure the School of Theatre and College of Music & Dramatic Arts can attract and retain talented student filmmakers to our program, addressing the need for a vibrant workforce for the growing film industry in Louisiana."