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The California Senate Appropriations Committee has approved a fourfold increase to the state’s spending on production incentives, from $100 million per year to over $400 million per year. The proposed bill would extend the program through 2022 and increase the eligible projects to include big budget movies and many one-hour dramas.
Perhaps a bigger upgrade to the program, for those who have applied for the few randomly-selected lottery slots in the past, will be a new ranking of applicants based on how many jobs their projects will create.
“This is very welcome news for Los Angeles-based production,” said Verlette Franck, a production incentives expert for Media Services Payroll. “This kind of expansion to an incentives program can cause a tectonic shift in the production landscape of a region. We’re going to see a lot more shows and movies considering California as a viable location option again if this passes.”
The legislation will go to the senate floor next, and if it passes there will be sent back to the state assembly for final vote. Should it get the votes, it will then be up to Governor Jerry Brown to sign the bill or line-item veto.
See our interactive production incentives map here.
