California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program continues to draw big-budget and independent films, including 24 new projects announced today (3/6). These films (21 independent, three non-independent) are on track to bring $662 million in total production spending to California, including an estimated $423 million in “qualified” expenditures (wages to below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors). The films will employ an estimated 3,173 crew, 801 cast and 29,602 background actors and stand-ins.
Three of the projects are big-budget films–an untitled Disney live-action project, “Thomas Crown Affair” (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures) and “Michael” (Lions Gate Entertainment). The latter film, a Michael Jackson biopic, is on track to generate more in-state spending than any other film in the tax credit program’s 14-year history. Combined, these the three big-budget non-indie projects will generate an estimated $265 million in qualified spending and $433 million in total spending in California.
In addition, the 21 independent films announced today will generate a combined $172 million in qualified spending and $230 million in total spending. The six indies with budgets over $10 million are on track to generate a combined $96 million in qualified spending and $128 million in total spending.
The 15 indie films with budgets of $10 million and under are: “A Bright And Guilty Place” (ABGP81 LLC), “Abundance” (Abundance Films LLC), “Atropia” (Atropia LLC), “From Dust to Dust” (American Zoetrope), “Goodrich” (Frances Goodrich, LLC), “Home School” (Home School LLC), “Hurricana” (Pydo Productions), “Lips Like Sugar” (Lips Like Sugar Film, LLC), “Nobody Nothing Nowhere” (Department of Motion Pictures), “Original Tru” (Original Tru Productions, LLC), “Pizza Girl” (Maggot Productions II, Inc), “Sons of the Silent Age (Kathryn Roughan, producer), “Superbloom” (Annapurna Productions, LLC), “The Faith of Long Beach” (The Faith of Long Beach Film, LLC), and “Trees & PhDs” (Inner Child LLC).
The six independent films with budgets more than $10 million are: “Live” (Live Inc.), “Puritan II” (Starmaker Studios, LLC), “Shell” (Juniper, LLC), “The Invite” (Invite Distribution, LLC), “The Knockout Queen” (Atlas Entertainment, LLC) and “Unstoppable” (AE Ops, LLC).
The 24 film projects will also generate significant postproduction jobs and revenue for California visual effects artists, sound editors, sound mixers, musicians and other industry workers/vendors.
The three non-indie films are receiving the largest tax credits. “Michael” is garnering an estimated tax credit of $21,070,000; "Thomas Crown Affair" an estimated $13,777,000; and the untitled Disney live-action project $11,306,000.
“Our tax credit program continues to welcome a diverse range of projects, from big-budget films to small independent projects, and everything in between,” said California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell. “The program is an important tool for maintaining our competitiveness and curbing runaway production. We are working harder than ever to keep entertainment production here in California, where it belongs.”
Production for the 24 projects is set to occur over a combined 768 filming days in California. Half of the projects plan to film outside the Los Angeles 30-Mile Studio Zone, for a combined 228 out-of-zone filming days.
The California Film Commission received a total of 58 applications during the January 30–February 6 feature film tax credit application period. It has reserved $81.7 million in tax credit allocation for the 24 conditionally approved projects.
The next application period for feature films will be held July 24-31. The next application period for TV projects will be held March 6-20.
