Legendary filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, who steals more from cinema history than Woody Allen, is mooching off of the taxpayers.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Tarantino’s new film, referred to as “Untitled #9,” will cost about $95 million but will receive nearly $20 million in tax credits under California’s expanded Film & Television Tax Credit Program 2.0.
Sony is producing the film, but it seems like the billion-dollar corporation needs some tax reprieve.
“Despite aggressive incentives worldwide, California is once again competing for big projects because we’re able to provide the best overall value,” California Film Commission executive director Amy Lemisch said in a statement. “Films today can be shot just about anywhere, so it’s great to see so much production returning to the Golden State.”
But it isn’t just Tarantino getting some tax incentives, which are inevitably passed onto average taxpayers. A total of 11 projects will receive just under $63 million in tax breaks.
More from THR:
Other big-budget films that have received support from the program include Captain Marvel, Island Plaza, Midway, Ad Astra, Bumblebee and A Wrinkle in Time. Such projects would have been ineligible for tax credits under the state’s first-generation Program 1.0, which was closed to films with budgets of more than $75 million. The new program, approved by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014, tripled the size of the program from $100 million to $300 million annually, extending eligibility to a range of projects, including big-budget films, TV pilots and one-hour TV series for any distribution outlet, that had not previously qualified.
Other projects among the list of features announced Monday include Destroyer, directed by Karyn Kusama and starring Nicole Kidman; an untitled Noah Baumbach project for Amazon Studios; and an untitled project from writer/director Dan Gilroy starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo.
The announcement noted that three of the 11 projects — Destroyer, Rim of the World and Girl With a Gun — plan to shoot a substantial number of scenes outside of the 30-Mile Zone surrounding Los Angeles, contributing to the program’s goal to bring production jobs and spending to regions across the state.
Like sports, the entertainment business gets massive tax breaks through their connections, lobbying and cronyism.
Photo by Gage Skidmore.
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