A while back we featured an article about how Hollywood was boycotting New York as a filming location due to extra charges they wanted to impose on the production crews for permits. Well now it seems as if Hollywood producers have found a new location and it’s right in their own backyard because California’s new filming incentives appear to be heading for a happy Hollywood ending.
In July, California introduced a special tax credit program which earmarks $500 million over a five-year span. And since the introduction of this program, over 36 movies and television shows have already taken advantage of the state’s tax credit program. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said “”I’m thrilled by the early success of our program – it’s having an immediate impact,” furthermore he adds that “Productions that were slated to film outside the state have shifted gears and are now shooting in California because of our film and television incentive.”
What will happen in Hollywood is that productions will compile data on several regions that have the locations they are interested in, then they will look at what incentives, if any, they offer and finally they will do a comparative budget and make a decision.
While the exact number of jobs and state funds generated by the tax program can’t really be assessed until the production breakdowns come in, it is still estimated that roughly 150-200 jobs will be generated with each project that decides to stay in California. According to Assembly member Paul Krekorian these new incentives will “aggressively protect our jobs and inject our economy with the necessary tools to lift us up from the worst economic crisis in 80 years”.
So it seems as if those of you who are living in California will get more and more possibilities to go star gazing.
[…] We have good news to report! It looks like California’s economy is picking up again in the film and television industries. […]