12
In 2018, a total of 14 film projects received the tax
credit. This includes 12 theatrical release films and
two that were released on streaming platforms. The
12 films in theatrical release, which consisted of six
indies and six non-indies, generated $375 million
in qualified spend and hired 1,963 crew, 835 cast
and generated 23,405 man days for extras/stand-ins
(Appendix E).
Two additional features that were released by
Netflix in 2018 specifically for their streaming
platform—Bird Box and The Cloverfield Paradox—
also received the CFTTC. These two projects
generated additional spend of approximately
$39.1 million, 81 shoot days, 213 cast, 382 crew and
1,844 man days for extras.
In summary, combined total qualified spending in
California from tax credit films for both theatrical
(12 count) and streaming releases (2 count) was
approximately $414.1 million for features released
in 2018. Together, these 14 projects generated 645
Shoot Days and employed 2,335 crew, 1,048 cast
and 25,249 man days for extras.
Looking at California locations of all 14 CFTTC
recipient projects, only five—Book Club,
The Cloverfield Paradox, The Happytime Murders,
Hotel Artemis and Peppermint—were shot entirely
in the Los Angeles County region.
35 Randyl Drummer, "Shortage of Studio Space Drives Productions to Far-Flung Parts of Los Angeles County," CoStar News, August 16, 2019.
https://product.costar.com/home/news/shared/462307583
36 FilmLA. Sound Stage Production Report.
https://www.filmla.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/sound-stage-study-v3-WEB.pdf
CALIFORNIA TAX CREDIT RECIPIENTS
AVAILABLE STAGE SPACE IN CALIFORNIA
One of the issues facing the state is the lack of available sound stage space. Los Angeles County is home to
the world’s largest concentration of dedicated, certified sound stage space at 5.2 million square feet. There
are also several additional adaptive reuse facilities and some smaller stages in the Bay Area.
In FilmLA’s most recent Sound Stage report, participating partners reported average annual occupancy of 96
percent, with one-hour and half-hour television series commanding 75 percent of all booked stage days.
36
The proliferation of television projects in the Greater Los Angeles area and their demand for stage space, has
limited the availability of sound stages for both film and television projects.
The Bay Area in Northern California has also two adaptive reuse facilities that are used for filming—
Mare Island with 200,000 square feet of sound stage space, and the recently reopened Treasure Island
Hangar 3, which is 79,000 square feet. Both facilities are currently occupied with productions. Mare Island is
also in the process of adding 5 certified sound stages.
In recent years, there have been a few new additions to the supply of studio space in Los Angeles County.
New studios that opened in 2019 include Quixote Studios, a purpose-built, five-stage complex with 75,000
square feet in Pacoima, and L.A. North Studios, an adaptive reuse of a former warehouse in Santa Clarita with
four stages and 125,000 square feet. In 2018, Crimson Studios in Chatsworth opened with five stages and
40,000 square feet. A new studio in Sun Valley—Line 204—has also been approved for a new 240,000
square-foot studio, including 10 stages.
Since a significant portion of the stage space in Los Angeles County was built in the earlier part of last century,
the region is also lacking a number of stages in excess of 30,000 square feet, which are often used as a base
for big-budget, special effects-driven films.
Among the remaining nine films, the additional filming
locations are as follows:
• Beautiful Boy and Bumblebee were filmed primarily in
Northern California
• A Wrinkle in Time filmed additional locations in
Humboldt County
• Destroyer and A Star is Born filmed additional
locations in Riverside County
• Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot was based
and set in Portland, Oregon, but filmed in the Greater
Los Angeles area
• Vice shot additional scenes along the Kern River
(Kern County) and Thousand Oaks (Ventura County)
• Unbroken: The Path to Redemption shot locations in
Ventura County (Oxnard)
• Bird Box shot additional locations in Del Norte
(Smith River) and San Bernardino (Claremont), and
Santa Cruz counties
The fact that most of the incentivized features shot outside
the Greater Los Angeles region attests not only to the
diversity of California locations, but to the impact of the
CFTTC’s regional bonus on location selection.
Location saturation may be another factor, particularly in
Los Angeles, where space demands for film and television
projects is so strong that it is driving productions to other
counties statewide.
35
As shown in Appendix E, the average
incentivized feature filmed in eight different locations.