North Bay, California film industry bounces back with production bookings, tax incentives
The last scene in the 2000 blockbuster hit “Cast Away,” starring Tom Hanks as a FedEx executive stranded on a deserted island, shows a distinct fork in the road that tells us everything today about the multi-billion-dollar American film industry climbing out of the coronavirus crisis.
Hanks, after being rescued after his four years on the island, must decide which road to take to start a new chapter of his life. The film industry faces its own crossroads: Where will it place productions, and will it continue to get support from government in the form of tax credits?
To North Bay and California insiders who agree the industry is on the path to full recovery from the pandemic, the road home to success involves more streaming services. The film industry last year had $4.48 billion in U.S. and Canadian box office receipts, according to Statista.
It also will deliver a high demand for more content, more sound stages, more state tax incentives and more interest among movie buffs starved for their favorite candy- or popcorn-induced escape from our harsh reality.
“This is one of the most resilient industries. We’re uniquely positioned to come back more quickly than many other sectors out there,” California Film Commission Executive Director Colleen Bell told the North Bay Business Journal.
“We’ve learned a lot from this experience.”
Today’s big-budget feature films add up to huge returns for California’s area governments and businesses. Produced by Fox/Disney in 2019, “Ford vs Ferrari” starring Matt Damon and shot throughout Southern California cost the state $14.8 million in tax credits but amounted to $114.5 million in total expenditures in the area.
With a spectacular backdrop of Lake Tahoe, this year’s “Top Gun: Maverick” hoisted spending in California to $173.5 million. Tax credits cost less than a third of that amount.
Since shooting began again throughout the state in June, it’s been a “slow and steady” climb to return to 2019 levels.
Key to the recovery for the state has been an extension by Gov. Gavin Newsom of the California Film and Television Tax Credit, which launched in 2014 with then-Gov. Jerry Brown to keep film shoots in the state by offering tax benefits of up to 25%, depending on the type of production.
Because of the $330 million the state has allocated annually in tax credits for the film industry, it’s estimated $21.9 billion in economic output was generated between 2015 and 2020, according to a 2022 report created by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
The law introduced by Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada, as California Senate Bill 144, sunsets in 2025.
The state Film Commission is advocating for the program to remain permanent to compete with about 30 states vying for the income stream. The report suggests about half the projects that sought the state tax credits but were turned down, left the state, leaving $1 billion in overall production spending for everything from hospitality purchases to supply receipts off the table for California.
In addition, state and local governments have gained $961.5 million collected between 2015 and 2020, the report notes.
As a benchmark in the 30-square-mile sphere of influence for the film industry, Hollywood production shoot days doubled in 2021. They surged 141% from 2020 levels to more than 10,000 spread over a variety of film crews statewide.
And this is precisely what the area-specific film commissions and promotional entities have in mind with wooing productions to their regions.
Sonoma County’s storied history of filmmaking
When asked if COVID-19 was a film, how would it end, Sonoma County Film Commission Officer Lauren Cartwright said: “It feels like it’s never ending,”
In respect to production shoots in the Wine Country, Cartwright pointed out the industry is already “very cyclical” with the seasons. Film crews often seek bucolic outdoor, farm settings with barns, in particular. She fielded recent inquiries for places with three waterfalls.
“That was interesting since we’re in a drought,” she said.
Sonoma County has a long history with the film industry, dating as far back as the movie “Salomy Jane” filmed in Monte Rio and released in 1914. Sixty-four years later, “The Magic of Lassie” was shot on location in Healdsburg.
As for blockbusters, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” was shot at the Charles M. Schultz–Sonoma County Airport and released in 1963, along with “The Birds” of Bodega Bay from the same year. In 1973, “American Graffiti” was on location in Petaluma