Report finds California losing big budget film productions to other states

A new report out by the non profit group FilmLA shows California is losing the battle to keep blockbuster production in the state.

"We're losing our market share of the biggest box office films to other places in the world," says FilmLA President Paul Audley. "If you're making a film for 250-million, California is not in a competition at all."

Nearly 3-years into California's expanded tax credit program big budget film production is down. According to the report, only three of the 100 top grossing films of 2016 were shot in California with state tax incentives.

"You have the most talented crews, you have the venders you have all the infrastructure and resources here but in the modern film business - you have to go to a state with a film tax credit incentive to make the economics work, says LA based film producer Braxton Pope.

The state that has lured the most lucrative productions is Georgia.

"We understand it's big business , It's good business, and we have taken steps to ensure it is a permanent industry in our state," says Georgia Film Academy Executive Director, Jeff Stepakoff. "Two years ago we opened the Georgia film Academy to provide the infrastructure for our film industry."

Growing infrastructure plus the most attractive tax credits in the industry has put Georgia on top according to the FilmLA report.

"The truth is Georgia has spent more money than anyone in the world attracting feature films, they have spent $660 million last year alone," says Audley.

But California's Tax Credit Program did help keep small budget productions and features in town. The LA film permit office hopes in time feature films will return as well.

"Georgia is throwing huge amounts of money at the industry but Hollywood still gets to claim it's the Film capital," says Audley.

Link to report: https://www.filmla.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/2016_film_study_WEB.pdf.

Copyright 2017 FOX 11 Los Angeles : Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram , and YouTube . Be a citizen journalist for FOX 11 and get paid - download the Fresco News App today.