Written by on Mar 7, 2014. Posted in On Location

California feature filming ranks behind UK and Canada for 2013

California took the fourth spot behind Louisiana, Canada and the UK for its popularity as a filming location in 2013, according to a new report from FilmLA. The west coast state’s share of the biggest 25 movies of the year slipped to just 8%, down from 64% fifteen years ago.

Of the biggest features released in 2013 with budgets over USD100 million, just two – Star Trek Into Darkness (left) and The Hangover Part III – filmed mainly in California. Louisiana, Canada and the UK all offer more generous filming incentives than California.

Star Trek in fact only filmed in California because filmmaker JJ Abrams personally covered the additional production costs of staying close to his Los Angeles base.

“State policymakers have the opportunity to make a difference this year by expanding California’s film and television tax credit,” said FilmLA President Paul Audley: “We hope they give the strongest possible signal to the film industry that they want to keep film jobs in California.”

California has also lost the top spot for this year’s TV pilot season. New York is hosting 15 different drama and comedy pilots, while Los Angeles is in second place with just five.

State policymakers have the opportunity to make a difference this year by expanding California’s film and television tax credit.

Paul Audley, President of FilmLA

Iconic chat programme The Tonight Show has relocated from Los Angeles to New York for the first time in a generation, while Disney/Marvel and Netflix have committed to five new superhero TV series for New York that represents the biggest production deal in the state’s history.

Officials in California will spend the next few months lobbying Sacramento for filming incentive changes including an increase to the state’s USD100 million annual film fund and support for high-end TV dramas and big-budget features.

(Photo: Paramount)