California Film Commission Announces 12 Films Set To Shoot In State

While the global COVID-19 pandemic has put a major damper on Hollywood production schedules, the industry is cautiously moving forward in LA as evidenced by a recent announcement from the California Film Commission. CA’s Film Commission announced today a set of 12 feature films selected to receive tax credits under the state’s incentives program for filming in California. The films set to proceed include four independent and eight non-independent films.

Some of the films approved for tax credits include Universal Pictures
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’ Half Baked 2, the Fox drama Lady of the House, Sylvester Stallone and Michael Bay’s Little America dystopian thriller, and Amazon
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’s Cate Blanchett-starring Untitled Lucy and Desi Project, penned by Aaron Sorkin. Other projects on the slate include the Asian family drama Ashes to Oceans, the immigration-themed The Test, and the transgender teen drama Moonshadow.

The California Film Commission has reserved $40.2 million in tax credit allocation for the 12 selected projects. A total of 54 film projects had applied for tax credits in the March 9 through 13th application period. The allocation was initially scheduled for April before the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent production shutdown halted filming altogether.

Most of the production activity will occur within LA’s 30-mile Studio Zone, while four of the projects (Dead Dads Club, Dog, Little America, and Pursuit) will have significant production in Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventury counties. California will serve as a locale stand-in for Iran (in The Test), Hong Kong (in Little America), and Florida (in Lady of the House).

California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell has lauded the program’s successes and looks forward to aiding the post-COVID recovery:

“Program 2.0 has accomplished precisely what it was designed to do, from creating high-wage jobs to encouraging more out-of-zone production. As the industry begins to rebound from COVID-19, the launch of Program 3.0 will help continue to ensure that California provides an unparalleled value.”

The expanded tax credit program has incentivized 243 film and TV projects in its five-year history, generating an estimated $11 billion in spending across California (including $4 billion in wages to below-the-line workers and $3.7 billion in payments to in-state vendors). One of the main goals of the expanded program has been to extend production activity beyond the 30-Mile Zone.

It remains unknown what effect the renewed rise in LA coronavirus cases will have on the forthcoming productions, if any. Recently bars have been re-ordered to close amidst the renewed surges in coronavirus cases, while other high-contact businesses like gyms have tentatively proceeded despite the uncertain environment.

For its part, Hollywood has taken on a wide range of changes to prepare for productions to resume, affecting everything from auditions to crew meals to the addition of regular testing. NBCUniversal, for example, has resumed lot production with a ‘safety-first’ approach, transforming stages and workspaces while dramatically altering protocols to emphasize social distancing, mandatory face masks, frequent sanitization, and the like. Whether the new protocols will be enough in the context of dramatic local spikes in cases, and whether California’s re-opening strategy will affect the new slate of productions, has yet to be seen.