BOSTON -- Hollywood filmmakers have been lured to Massachusetts with the help of big-time tax breaks in recent years but now high drama is expected on Beacon Hill over a plan to limit how much the state gives up to bring the filmmakers to the Bay State.

Only last summer, residents thrilled to scenes of an explosive plane crash filmed in Bridgewater for a Tom Cruise movie.

Thanks to those tax credits, more than a dozen major films and TV projects were filmed in Massachusetts last year.

Now, there will be some real action at a Statehouse public hearing on the tax credits.

It is a must go for several production and film-related companies. They're hoping to save the credits that lured Tinseltown here.

Two proposals on the table right now. The governor wants to put a two-year, $50 million annual cap on the credits. One lawmaker is pushing to bring back the $7 million per film cap.

"At a time when you have people leaving the state, at a time when you have historic unemployment, the last thing you want to do is cut a jobs creation program," said Joe Maiella, president of the Massachusetts Production Coalition.

Critics, however, said the state doesn't need to subsidize the film industry.

"We're going to be paying 25 percent of Hollywood's bills forever if we hope to keep them here," said State Rep. Steve D'Amico of Bristol County. Massachusetts gave $113 million in tax credits in 2008 and the state only received $17.5 in tax revenues.