California urged to boost support for big features

In sharp contrast, US rival Georgia has seen its share of American production increase by a similar percentage over the same time frame.

California’s overall share is still 10% higher than in Georgia (26% compared to around 15%), but Georgia is a much more popular filming location for big-budget Hollywood features.

Authorities in California boosted the state’s filming incentive two years ago. The relaunched support has succeeded in bringing more big-budget features to Los Angeles and other parts of the state – including A Wrinkle in Time (pictured) and Captain Marvel – but the Milken Institute has advised further changes.

The organisation’s report suggests California increase its annual film fund from the current $330m so that it is more in line with states like New York that offers $430m a year overall.

In addition, the report has urged California to make its filming incentive more accessible to big-budget features and to do more to support the production of new TV series locally, rather than focussing on getting established shows to relocate from other parts of the US.

Location filming for features of all budgets in Los Angeles fell by 20% in 2017, according to a FilmLA report published earlier this year. The vast majority of features were shot without incentive support.

See KFTV's production guide for more on filming in California.

Main page image: Mana Media. Article image: Disney Enterprises