$2 Billion in film business flees California



The actors of The 100 may have American accents but it is an international cast and the production and its jobs are located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

More Jobs Leave California

• The Democrat Hollywood Elite pretend to be bleeding heart Leftists, but when it comes to paying taxes themselves they suddenly turn into rabid anti-tax Libertarians and flee California.
• It has gotten to the point where Hollywood productions (and the jobs they create) no longer leave California.  Knowing the California tax code, now many productions never started here in the first place.

The People's Republic of California lost nearly $2 billion in production spending over the last four years, as film and TV projects took their business out of state, according to a new report.

In a study released Wednesday, the California Film Commission found that from 2010 to 2014, so-called runaway projects accounted for almost $2 billion in production spending outside of California.

The commission, which administers California's film and TV tax credit program, analyzed projects that applied for, but did not receive, a state tax credit due to limited funding reports the Los Angeles Times.

The state allocates $100 million annually in sales and income tax credits to the film industry, but funding is used up on the first day it is available. This year, the state received a record 497 applications for the funds on June 2, the deadline for an annual lottery that is used to divvy up the credits. Only 26 projects made the cut, while the remainder were put on a waiting list.

So what happens to the projects that don't win the lottery?

The California Film Commission concluded that the vast majority opted to shoot in states and countries where tax credits were available.

Last year alone, 42 projects that applied for California's credit spent more than $1 billion outside the state, while another 26 projects remained in the state and spent $211 million in California.

Fleeing California
The Walking Dead producer Gale Anne Hurd has said that because of taxes there was no possible way the show could have been made in California.  So they decided to film in tax friendly Georgia.



No Vikings in California
Vikings was developed and produced by Octagon Films.  The series began filming in July 2012 at Ashford Studios, a newly built studio facility in Ireland, chosen as a location for its tax advantages.