California reveals $330m tax credit

California’s annual film and TV production tax credit funding is set to be tripled to more than US$300m after the state’s Senate passed a bill to put the incentive programme into law.

The US state wants to extend its scheme for five years and increase the amount of funding available to compete with similar incentives available elsewhere including New York State, which provides US$420m for productions.

The new programme will total $1.65bn over five years, and means funding of $330m each year will be available to attract film and TV productions to the state.

The bill must now be signed off by governor Jerry Brown who has already voiced his support for the measures, which is expected to happen in mid-September.

The proposed scheme will start in July and allow all new one-hour TV series to be eligible for the credit, regardless of the platform on which they become available, while TV pilots and large-budget films would also qualify. At present, films with budgets over US$75m are not eligible.

California currently allocates US$100m annually to TV and film companies, which can claim up to 25% tax credit on production costs.

Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger introduced the current tax credit programme in 2009 in a bid to stop companies leaving the state to produce shows.

Similar tax credit schemes have already been introduced by governments around the world to tempt TV and film production firms. In the UK, series that cost more than £1m (US$1.5m) per hour qualify for a 25% rebate on 80% of the budget.