Christmas Comes Early For Kerry Washington, Elisabeth Moss, Vince Vaughn & Keke Palmer With $109M In Gift-Wrapped California Tax Incentives
“There are known unknowns,” the ever-shifty Donald Rumsfeld famously once said back in 2002 to a reporter’s question about supposed links between Saddam Hussein and known terrorist groups. “That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know,” the then Defense Secretary added.
Well, this morning a week before Christmas and Hanukkah, we know that 10 film and TV projects have been awarded $108.6 million in California tax incentives to further help jumpstart production in the heart of Hollywood. Truth be told, with names like “Untitled Disney+ Project” ($14,715,000), and “Untitled Apple Studios Series II” ($10,682,00), there are several projects that just got some sweet credits from the Golden State’s $330 million annual fund that we don’t know a lot about.
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What we do know with this somewhat unexpected pre-holiday spree from the California Film Commission administered program, is that they are anticipated to create 3,583 cast and crew jobs. The 10 allocated recipients are also projected to bring in a hefty $509 million in what are called qualified expenditures – as you can see for yourself below in the full list of the 10 conditionally approved projects:
Now, you might notice a “recurring TV series: at the top of the list called LA Nights. A search for said show doesn’t bring up much. What you may not know is that applicants don’t have to provide their real names. What we know is LA Nights is an HBO series, and, with a nice chunk of $19,408,000 tax credit change, if you say the name Euphoria … well, you might be on to something there Secret Santa.ame
What we also know is that with projects such as the upcoming Imperfect Women, a second season of the just renewed and West Coast relocating Bad Monkey and the Peacock remake of The Burbs among the chosen few today, heavy hitters like Kerry Washington and Elisabeth Moss, Vince Vaughn and Keke Palmer are part of the state’s strategy. A strategy for more jobs, more production, more rented soundstages as more shows and movies stay in California, and, as a downstream by-product, more tax revenue is generated.
“It’s a tremendous honor to be able to film Imperfect Women in Los Angeles thanks to the California Film Commission’s Tax Credit,” star and EP Washington said today of the Annie Weisman adapted series based on Araminta Hall’s 2011 novel of friendship, discovery, grief and investigation. “It’s exciting to know that this invaluable program will allow us to keep production close to home while also supporting the talented artists and artisans here in LA that make storytelling possible,” the Emmy winner added, with a clear nod to the $12,506,000 Imperfect Women has been awarded.
Washington’s co-star and fellow Imperfect Women executive producer Moss was singing from the same choir book this morning when it came to the advantages the tax incentives deliver.
“I’m incredibly thrilled that we will be able to go into production on ‘Imperfect Women’ in Los Angeles, directly due to the support of the California Film Commission and their Tax Credit Program,” the Handmaid’s Tale lead states. “Being able to produce and shoot this project where I was born and raised is thrilling and the importance of supporting our unrivaled local crews, while tapping into local production resources, cannot be overstated.”
Today’s announcement follows Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan of October 27 to more than double the state’s oversubscribed tax incentive to $750 million annually. Surpassing New York’s $700 million per year credits to be the largest capped tax film and TV incentive in the nation, Newson’s increase, if passed by the legislature, would kick in as a part of the state’s 2025-2026 budget. While nothing else besides the big boast has been unveiled yet, more initiatives to update the program, which has been basically unchanged since 2014, are contemplated, I hear.
For the time being, what we do know is coming is that the next application period for independent & studio/streamer feature films will be January 27-29, 2025, with approvals on March 3. For TV (relocating, recurring, pilots and limited), the next online application window is February 24-26, 2025 and then a Phase II from February 27 – March 3 next year with successful recipients informed around March 31. Another small screen round will occur from March 31 – April 2, with a second phase from April 3 – 7, and approvals made known on May 5.
Know we’ll see ya then!
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