California has been losing out on movie and television productions for years. Despite being seen as the home of Western movies and the center of the big studio universe, the harsh fact is that more movies are shot outside of the state than inside it, due to advantageous tax arrangements across the US and the world.
Georgia, Canada, the UK, Australia, all have been tearing productions away from the Hollywood mothership for decades due to the generous tax credits they make available to productions that relocate.
Well, it must be an election year, as California Governor Gavin Newsom has just unveiled a huge boost in tax incentives in the state in an effort to persuade more productions to stay.
According to the report in Deadline, Newsom was at Raleigh Studios and announced that the state’s tax credits will rise from their from their present level of $330 million a year to around $750 million, subject to approval from the California legislature.
The Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation claims this is a net win for the state, as for every tax credit dollar allocated, it makes at least $24 in economic output for California.
Will other states and countries respond?