California’s Film and Television Tax Credit Program 2.0 begins its fourth year by adding a pair of relocating TV series, making a total of 15 series that have moved here from other states and countries with help from the expanded incentive. 

The latest relocating series are Good Girls (season 2) from Atlanta, and You (season 2) from New York City. 

“Year-four of California’s expanded tax credit program is off to a great start with a pair of relocating TV series and last week’s passage of legislation to extend the program for another five years,” said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission. “We’re bringing long-term, high-quality jobs in-state as we reaffirm our commitment to fighting runaway production.”

The NBC drama Good Girls is California’s first relocating TV series from Georgia, while Horizon Scripted Television's psychological thriller You is the fourth from New York (The Affair, The OA and Sneaky Pete relocated from New York previously). 

“We’re excited to bring Good Girls to California and employ hundreds of California workers on an important series for NBC and Universal Television,” said Jerry DiCanio, EVP of production operations for Universal Television. “We look forward to many years of continued success in California and are grateful to the Governor, state legislature and California Film Commission for making this possible.”

Set in Michigan, Good Girls plans 103 shoot days in California for its next season; You plans 80 shoot days. Together, the two series are on track to employ 420 crew, 429 cast and 7,060 extras (including stand-ins measured in man-days) in California. Approved conditionally for $15.4 million in tax credits, they will spend $61.4 million in qualified expenditures (defined as the portion of total expenditures allocated for wages to below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors). 

Due to Program 2.0’s ongoing success drawing long-term TV projects, the TV application period held May 21-25 was open only to relocating series and recurring series already accepted into the tax credit program. In addition to the two new relocating projects announced today, 26 recurring series in various stages of production are currently in the program and eligible for tax credits. Since the launch of Program 2.0 in 2015, a total of 66 television projects--including new TV series, pilots, MOWs, miniseries and relocating TV series--have been accepted. 

The TV series currently in the program and eligible for tax credits are in various stages of production, and they’re subject to change as applicants may withdraw from the program and their reservation of tax credits reassigned. These shows are: 13 Reasons Why (Paramount Television); The Affair (Showtime); American Crime Story (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.); American Horror Story (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.); American Princess (A+E Studios); Animal Kingdom (Horizon Scripted Television); Ballers (HBO); Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CBS Studios); Good Girls (Universal Television); Good Trouble (Disney ABC Cable Group); I’m Dying Up Here (Showtime); Legion (Minim Productions); Lucifer (WB Studio Enterprises); Mayans MC (Fox21 Television Studios); The OA (Lunar Mining); The Orville (Twentieth Century Fox Television); Rebel (BET Productions); The Rookie (ABC Studios); S.W.A.T. (Sony Pictures Entertainment); Sharp Objects (HBO); Shooter (Paramount Television); Sneaky Pete (Amazon Studios); Snowfall (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.); Strange Angel (CBS Studios); This is Us (Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp.); Veep (Second in Command Productions); Westworld (HBO); and You (Horizon Scripted Television).

The next application period for TV projects (the second for fiscal year-four of Program 2.0) is scheduled for November 5-9, 2018. Applications for the next round of feature film projects were accepted June 18–22, with selected projects scheduled to be announced July 23. 

Projects approved for California tax credits are selected based on their jobs ratio score, which ranks each project by wages to below-the-line workers, qualified spending for vendors, equipment, etc., and other criteria. The top 200% ranked projects in each round (i.e., those that would qualify if double the amount of funding was available for the current allocation round) are evaluated, and those with the highest-ranked jobs ratios receive tax credits. Those not selected are placed on the waiting list. The program allocates funding in “buckets” for different production categories, including non-independent feature films, independent films, TV projects and relocating TV series. This enables applicants to compete for credits directly against comparable projects. As has been the case since the state launched its first-generation tax credit program in 2009, the California Film Commission awards tax credits only after each selected project: 1) completes postproduction, 2) verifies that in-state jobs were created, and 3) provides all required documentation, including audited cost reports.