The latest round of projects approved for California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program includes four big-budget features and 14 independent films that together are on track to generate an estimated $915 million in overall production spending across the state. The overall figure includes $503 million in “qualified” spending, defined as wages to below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors. Only the qualified portion of each project’s budget is eligible for tax credits under California’s targeted incentive program.
The four big-budget films are:
- Joker: Folie à Deux, Warner Bros. Pictures ($98.7 million in qualified spending; receiving $12.5 million in estimated tax credits)
- Rebel Moon Part 2, Netflix Productions ($83 million in qualified spending; estimated tax credits of $16,618,000)
- The Thomas Crown Affair, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures ($87.9 million in qualified spending; estimated tax credits of $19,570,000)
- Untitled NF Project, Netflix Productions ($107.7 million in qualified spending; estimated tax credits of $20,511,000)
Combined, these four films alone will generate $377 million in qualified spending and $748 million in overall spending in California.
“We are thrilled to continue welcoming the kind of big budget films that used to be so susceptible to runaway production,” said California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell. “In addition to our incentive, we have the best talent, crews, infrastructure, locations, weather and so much more. California is ready to help filmmakers make the most of all we have to offer.”
Joker: Folie à Deux director/writer/producer Todd Phillips affirmed, “No other city has more resources than L.A. when it comes to our industry, and to have this kind of support for the work we do from the California Film Commission’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program is a nice welcome for all of us on Joker: Folie à Deux. Having spent the last several years filming in iconic locales here in the U.S. and around the globe, I’m looking forward to returning to work in the place I call home and to serving the state by bringing a project of this scope to California.”
In addition to big-budget projects, the latest round of tax credits includes 14 independent films–five with qualified spending of over $10 million, and nine with qualified spending of $10 million or less.
The five indie features with qualified spending of more than $10 million are: A Special Relationship (estimated tax credits: $2.5 million; Creature (estimated tax credits: $2.5 million); Shell (estimated tax credits: $2.5 million); The Knockout Queen (estimated tax credits: $2.5 million); and the Untitled Sofia Coppola Project (estimated tax credits: $1,849,000).
The nine indie features with qualified spending of $10 million or less are: A Foot in the Grave (estimated tax credits: $1,415,000); Elmhurst (estimated tax credits: $440,000); Greenlight (estimated tax credits: $1,218,000); Guns and Moses (estimated tax credits: $735,000); Perfect Stranger (estimated tax credits: $2,474,000); Pizza Girl (estimated tax credits: $1,445,000); The Cure (estimated tax credits: $763,000); Triage (estimated tax credits: $1,237,000); and the Untitled JJR Surf Movie (estimated tax credits: $2,884,000).
In all, the independent and non-independent film projects announced today (8/21) will employ an estimated 2,544 crew, 596 cast and 28,767 background actors/stand-ins (the latter measured in “man-days”). They will also generate significant postproduction jobs and revenue for California VFX artists, sound editors, sound mixers, musicians and other workers/vendors.
Production for the 18 projects is set to occur over a combined 718 filming days in California, with 218 days (just over 30 percent) planned outside the Los Angeles 30-Mile Studio Zone. This continues a long-term trend of bringing production jobs and spending to regions across the state. Filming for the 18 projects is planned in at least 10 California counties–from San Francisco and Kern to San Diego.
Out-of-zone filming will be led by The Thomas Crown Affair, with 30 of its 54 filming days planned in San Francisco County. The two prior versions of the popular romance thriller were shot primarily in and around Boston (1968 version) and New York City (1999 version).
The California Film Commission received a total of 57 applications during the July 18-25 feature film tax credit application period. It has reserved a total of $93.7 million in tax credit allocation for the 18 conditionally approved projects. The list of approved projects is subject to change, as applicants may withdraw from the tax credit program and their reservation of credits is reassigned to one or more projects on the wait list.
The next application period for feature films will be held January 30–February 6, 2023. The next application period for TV projects will be held September 19–26, 2022.
