California
Independent
EP Services Offered
Eligible Production Types
- Feature Films
- Scripted Television
- Reality Television
- Documentaries
- Animation
- Video Games
- Webisodes
- Talk Shows
- Game Shows
- Live Events
- Commercials
Location Production Needs
- Rural
- Suburban
- Snow
- Tropical
- Beaches/Ocean
- Mountains
- Lakes/Rivers
- Deserts
- Forests
- City
Administrative Guidance
Tax Credit Program 3.0 Guidelines
California Film Commission
Colleen Bell, Executive Director
323.860.2960
Incentive |
25% Transferable Tax Credit |
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Project Criteria |
25% 25% $1M $10M of qualified spend |
Qualified Spend |
Independent Film applicants are eligible to receive 25% of qualified expenditures and shall be applied to a maximum of $10M of the qualified expenditure budget.Qualified expenditures include preproduction, production, and postproduction expenditures purchased and/or rented and used in the state of California. Qualified production expenditures do not include development, marketing, publicity, or distribution costs. The Qualified Expenditure Charts and Budget Tagging and Tracking Tips are helpful guides for determining which expenditures qualify in the calculation for credits All applicants are eligible to receive “uplifts,” an additional 5% or 10% tax credit if spending occurs in any or all of the three categories listed.
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Program Guidelines |
$330M July 1, 2025 Yes Yes |
Additional Considerations |
No Independent production: Minimum production of $1M produced by company that is not publicly traded and that publicly traded companies do not own more than 25% of producing company. Principal photography in California must commence no later than 180 days after the Credit Allocation Letter is issued. Applications are ranked within categories (TV project vs. other TV projects, indie project vs. other indie projects, etc.) based upon their "jobs ratio" score. $26.4M (8% of annual budget) will be allocated for independent projects each fiscal year.
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