Over 200 TV shows and feature films have applied to film in California and use their expanded tax credit program.
The California Film Commission has announced 254 movie projects applied for their $55.2 million in tax credits under the state’s expanded program illustrating the state’s strong demand for production.
According to reports, the commission received 32 applications for feature films to receive $48.3 million funds and another 222 applications fro $6.9 million in funds for indie films. The application process was only 12 days long.
California’s 6-year-old incentive program has been expanded from $100 million in tax credits annually to $330 million — and feature film projects with budgets of more than $75 million are now eligible. Eight features received credits last year: Clint Eastwood’s “Jersey Boys” and “American Sniper,” “Horrible Bosses 2,” Mark Wahlberg’s “The Gambler,” “Earth to Echo,” “The Purge: Anarchy,” “Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones” and “Ouija” with $7.9 million.
Earlier this year, the California film commission announced that ‘Veep,’ ‘American Horror Story,’ ‘Secrets and Lies’ and ‘Hindsight’ have been approved to receive $27 million in tax credits for relocating to California, therefore taking away several major productions from Baltimore, New Orleans, Wilmington, and Atlanta, respectively.
The new program also provides that the selection for tax credits be based on each project’s “jobs ratio score,” which provides a ranking according to wages paid to below the line workers and qualified spending for vendors. Producers of the top ranked movie projects were notified earlier this week that they have been selected to begin the second phase of the process for further evaluation. News of which shows and movies relocating to California will be announced in August.
Source: Variety
