Tax Credits Draws Shows To California

 The California Film Commission announced this month that two more TV series will relocate to the state thanks to the production tax credit program.“The Flight Attendant,” which airs on HBO Max in Burbank, will move its production from New York, while “Chad,” airing on TBS, will relocate from British Columbia, Canada. Both shows are in their second season.“The Flight Attendant,” starring Kaley Cuoco, is made by Warner Horizon Scripted Television Inc., a division of Warner Bros Television Group, in Burbank. It was founded in 2006 and is one of the entertainment industry’s leading producers of dramatic and comedic programming for the cable and subscription/on-demand streaming marketplace, according to the company.

The show will receive $11 million in production tax credits based on $44 million of qualified spending.“Chad,” starring its creator Nasim Pedrad as a 14-year-old Persian boy looking to be popular in high school, is made by Turner North Center Productions Inc., with an office in Burbank. The show will receive about $3.6 million in tax credits based on $14 million of qualified spending.

Qualified spending is defined as below-the-line wages to California workers and payments to in-state vendors.The two relocating TV series will employ 442 crew, 180 cast and 1,980 background actors/stand-ins over a combined 117 filming days in California. They will also generate post-production jobs and revenue for VFX artists, sound editors, sound mixers, musicians and other workers/vendors, the commission said.

To date, 23 television series have relocated to California since the state began its production tax credit program in 2015. Seven have moved from New York and five have relocated from British Columbia.

Commission Executive Director Colleen Bell said that the 23 relocated series in the tax credit program account for more than 7,500 cast and crew jobs, $852 million in qualified spending and $1.2 billion in direct overall production spending in the state.

“It takes significant effort for an established TV series to pack up and relocate production, so our success with such projects says a lot about the industry’s preference for working here in the Golden State,” Bell said in a statement.

Other recently relocated series to the state include “Hunters,” about Nazi hunters airing on Amazon Prime; and “In Treatment” on HBO about a psychotherapist and his patients.