California Reincarnated
California is going to great lengths to become the major production hub it once was.
The state has dramatically expanded its film and TV tax credit program this year, roughly doubling funding to $750M per year. In this newest round of tax incentives, $116M will be allocated to 28 different film projects set to be filmed in California.
Major Studio Projects:
NBCUniversal:
Untitled Snoop Dogg Biopic
Dir: Craig Brewer (Song Sung Blue)
Starring: Jonathan Daviss (Outer Banks)
50 days filmed in CA
Qualified Expenditures: $48.3M
Credit Allocation: $17.1M
Amazon:
Untitled Amazon Thriller Feature
40 days filmed in CA
Qualified Expenditures: $35.6M
Credit Allocation: $12.6M
Apple
Untitled Apple Studios Feature
44 days filmed in CA
Qualified Expenditures: $39.9M
Credit Allocation: $14.1M
20% ($22.8M) of the money allocated for the new projects is going towards 18 independent films that have a budget of $10M or less, including:
Girlie
Dir: Cheryl Isaacson (based on her short film of the same name)
Lincoln Street Productions (Gloria)
20 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $1.1M
Synopsis:
A closeted college freshman finds forbidden love on a conservative Christian campus, while back home her Evangelical family faces a cruel reality that cannot be prayed away.
Dry by Midnight
Dir: Gregory Caruso (A Week in Watts)
Prod. Company: Bristol Pictures (Mary and Margaret)
20 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $1.6M
Synopsis:
On the eve of Prohibition, the owner of a high-class bar struggles to unload dozens of soon-to-be-illegal whiskey barrels and resolve several crises in his own personal life before a planned federal raid.
Soapbox
Prod. Company: Astute Films (Everything’s Going to be Great)
26 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $2.1M
I’m With Stupid
Prod. Company: 2AM (Materialists)
30 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $1.14M
Other notable titles:
Good Mountain
Dir: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Prod. Company: Fifth Season
50 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $1.1M
Business Women
Prod. Company: Twentieth Century Studios
35 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $9.3M
Press Play
Prod. Company: Waypoint Entertainment (Project Hail Mary)
32 days filmed in CA
Credit Allocation: $5.7M
The projects range from films in their earliest stages to projects gearing up to start production with notable directors and indie studios attached.
There’s the addition of 5,000 new crew members, some big-budget studio movies, a new Ang Lee drama, and a beach-set Snoop Dogg biopic, what more could the sunny Golden State ask for?!