Assembly Bill 2026 and Senate Bill 1197 were signed into law last week (9/28) by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to extend funding for California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program. The two-year, $200 million extension ensures that tax credits will be available through fiscal year 2016-17.
The original five-year program enacted in 2009 was part of an economic stimulus package to increase film and TV production spending, jobs and tax revenues in California. Last year, the program was extended for a single year through fiscal 2014-15 when the Governor signed AB 1069 into law. The new two-year extension provides added continuity and certainty to a program that has proved successful.
Since it was enacted in 2009, the California Film & Television Tax Credit Program has helped keep scores of productions and tens of thousands of jobs in California. Based on spending estimates by approved film and TV projects, the program is responsible for generating an estimated $3.9 billion in direct spending statewide, including $1.3 billion in wages paid to 27,000 “below the line” crew members. The California Film Commission continues to administer the program.
The two-year extension calls for California to set aside $100 million each year for a total of $200 million to cover dozens of film and TV projects applying for credits that can amount to 20 to 25 percent of qualified production expenditures. Continuing to be excluded from eligibility for the tax credit are films with budgets of more than $75 million, as well as TV commercials.
Clearly, demand for the tax credit far exceeds supply. On June 1, the first day of this year’s program, 322 applications were filed for the credit. That’s an 83 percent increase over the 176 applications filed in 2011. Last year, 27 projects received the credit. This year, 28 spanning film and TV are in line to benefit from the program, with the rest on a waiting list.
Applications for the next fiscal year’s $100 million allocation of tax credits will be accepted starting June 1, 2013.
For more info on the incentives package, click here.
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More