Forty-eight features, including a new Ang Lee project and a sequel to One Of Them Days, have been approved for California tax credits in the latest round of approvals by the California Film Commission (CFC).
The projects are expected to generate a total of $664m in spending throughout the state, according to the CFC, including more than $302 million in wages for California workers.
More than half of the films are set to be shot in the Los Angeles area, where the film industry is struggling to recover from the 2023 actors and writers strikes and this year’s wildfires.
Among the six $10m-plus independent projects newly approved under the state’s film and television tax credit programme – all of them planning to film mostly outside the Los Angeles area – are Gold Mountain, to be directed by Lee for Fifth Season. Based on American gold rush novel How Much Of These Hills Is Gold, the project is expected to have qualified expenditures of $27.3m.
They Follow, writer-director David Robert Mitchell’s follow-up, for Neon, to his 2014 horror hit It Follows, is expected to make a qualifying spend of $14.3m.
Another 37 independent projects with budgets of $10m or less have also been approved for credits.
The five studio features approved include Sony Pictures’ sequel to recent comedy hit One of Them Days (which itself shot in Los Angeles). The sequel, to be produced by Issa Rae, is projected to make qualified expenditures of more than $39m.
California’s film and TV tax credit programme is currently funded with $330m annually, though state governor Gavin Newsom has proposed increasing the funding to $750m a year. The increase still has to be finalised as part of California’s 2025-26 budget, however, with legislators under pressure to cut state spending.
In a statement released with the latest round of tax credit approvals Newsom said: “California didn’t earn its role as the heart of the entertainment world by accident – it was built over generations by skilled workers and creative talent pushing boundaries. Today’s awards help ensure this legacy continues, keeping cameras rolling here at home, supporting thousands of crew members behind the scenes and boosting local economies that depend on a strong film and television industry.”
CFC director Colleen Bell added: “This industry is core to California’s creative economy and keeping production here at home is more important than ever. This round of tax credits shows our commitment to supporting both indie and studio productions while spreading the economic benefits of filming across the state.”
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