ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR FILMS: Indies and Non-Indies
1.
Feature Films (Non-Transferable Tax Credit)
- Credit will apply to a maximum qualified spend of $100 million (no total budget cap)
2. Independent Films* (Transferable Tax Credit)
- Credit will apply to a maximum qualified spend of $10 million (no total budget cap)
* "Independent film" means a production of a film with a running time of at least seventy-five (75) minutes intended for commercial distribution to a motion picture theater, directly to the home video market, directly to television, or via the internet. An independent film shall have a minimum budget of one million dollars ($1,000,000) and be produced by a company that is not publicly traded and a publicly traded company does not own, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the producing company.
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Applications are ranked within categories (Indie Film vs. other Indie Film) based upon their
"Jobs Ratio"
score.
For historical reference only, below are the lowest adjusted jobs ratios for the projects that received a reservation of credits during the previous application period for indie and non-indie feature film projects:
Independent Feature Film:
4.23739
Non-Independent Feature Film:
3.56545
The jobs ratio numbers quoted above are based on applications received during the prior application period. These numbers should not be relied upon as a guaranteed jobs ratio minimum in future application periods.
Applicants are measured against their specific applicant pool and as such, each jobs ratio minimum is specific to those types of productions during a specific allocation period.
Be sure to download the new Jobs Ratio Calculator
. This tool is available to assist you in determining your Jobs Ratio.
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ONLINE APPLICATION
The portal will go live Wednesday, March 7 at 8:00 a.m. and close on Tuesday, March 13, 2018 at NOON.
Applicants should begin to prepare their budget and materials early. You will need a completed and tagged budget in order to fill out the application. Projects that rank in the top 200% (double the number of projects for which funding is available) will be notified by March 14, 2018 to submit Phase II documents. Applicants should prepare all materials listed in the Checklist as you will be required to submit these within three days if your application is selected.
Be sure to carefully read the Budget/Tagging Instructions so that you can accurately tag your budget. Pay close attention to box rentals and car allowances. Non-Independents: Note that the methodology and tagging to determine out of zone "uplifts" have been modified from the methodology utilized in the first program year.
Qualified expenditure budgets should reflect qualified expenditures on or after April 9, 2018 as Credit Allocation Letters will be issued on April 9th.
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TAX CREDIT PROGRAM TUTORIALS FOR INDEPENDENTS
Attention Independent Film Applicants!
The California Film Commission offers tutorials to better assist indie producers interested in applying to the Tax Credit Program. The tutorials below cover
indie-specific information regarding Tax Credit Program 2.0 guidelines, eligibility requirements, deadlines, required documentation, and qualified expenditures. In addition, the video tutorials e
xplore the application portal and data needed in order to successfully submit an application. Lastly, two tutorials are available on how to accurately ta
g qualified and non-qualified expenditures using Movie Magic Budget and
Showbiz Budgeting programs.
Tutorials
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ONLINE RESOURCES
The California Film Commission website provides informational documents listed below to assist tax credit applicants during the application process. Applicants are strongly advised to review each document prior to project budgeting and scheduling.
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