Lady Gaga, Bradley Cooper’s ‘A Star Is Born’ to Receive California Production Tax Credit
“A Star Is Born,” starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, has been allocated a $7 million production tax credit by the California Film Commission.
The movie, which will mark Cooper’s directorial debut, was one of 22 announced on Monday as part of the commission’s expanded tax credit program. Warner Bros. has set a Sept. 28, 2018, release date for the film.
The biggest allocation went to a Paramount project with a $22 million credit, which will be shot outside Los Angeles.
Nine other projects will be shot outside the L.A. 30-mile zone — “Ad Astra,” “Beautiful Boy,” “Blonde,” “Book Club,” “Highway One,” “Inner City,” “Shutter Spy,” “Untitled Jessica Buchanan Story,” and “Untitled Universal Pictures Project.”
Other projects on the list include Universal’s “Marwencol,” with an $8 million allocation, and a pair of Lionsgate projects — “Plus One” and “White Girl Problems.”
“Thanks to the expanded tax credit program we’re now on a path to win more and more battles in the fight against runaway production,” said California Film Commission Executive Director Amy Lemisch. “Welcoming another big-budget feature and creating jobs across the state are great news for California.”
The 2015-16 fiscal year marked a major expansion of the seven-year-old tax credit program, aimed at halting the erosion of California-based production to states with bigger incentives, such as Georgia and New York. The annual allocation rose from $100 million to $330 million, and applications are ranked on how many jobs they will produce, rather than being selected by lottery.
The program expansion, enacted in 2014 by California lawmakers, covers five years and $1.65 billion in tax credits. The credit is set at 20%, but producers are eligible for an additional 5% “uplift” if they shoot outside the L.A. zone, commit to music scoring or music track recording in the state, or to do visual effects in California.
Disney’s “A Wrinkle in Time” received a tax credit last year under new rules that allow productions with budgets more than $75 million to be part of the program.
In November, Dwayne Johnson’s HBO series “Ballers” agreed to move to California from Florida for its third season and has been conditionally approved to receive an $8.3 million tax credit from the state. “Ballers” is the seventh series to relocate to California under the state’s expanded tax incentive program and joins “Mistresses” (which returned to California from Vancouver); “Scream Queens” and “American Horror Story” (which moved from Louisiana); “Veep” (from Maryland); “Secrets and Lies” (from North Carolina); and ABC’s “American Crime” (which recently moved from Texas).
Here’s the entire list of Monday’s allocations for films:
— “A Star Is Born” WB Studio Enterprises, Inc. Non-Independent $ 7,076,000
— “Ad Astra Lima Project” Films Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Beautiful Boy” Amazon Studios, LLC Non-Independent $ 4,000,000
— “Blonde” Plan B Entertainment, Inc. Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Book Club” Bookclub for Cats, LLC Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Callahan” Amazon Studios, LLC Non-Independent $ 1,091,000
— “Flarsky” Good Universe Films, LLC Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Highway One” Placeholder Productions, LLC Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Hotel Artemis” Ink Factory, Inc Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Inner City” Inner City Productions, LLC Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Marwencol” Universal City Studios, LLC Non-Independent $ 8,202,000
— “Plus One” Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc. Non-Independent $ 2,369,000
— “Shutter Spy” Shutter Spy Productions, Inc Non-Independent $ 1,309,000
— “Stuck at the Office” Zack Schiller & Associates, LLC Independent $ 2,500,000
— “Tag” New Line Productions, Inc. Non-Independent $ 4,910,000
— “The Children” Mutiny Pictures, Inc. Non-Independent $ 1,702,000
— “Timmy Failure” Newsub 87 Productions, Inc. Non-Independent $ 5,346,000
— “Unbroken – Path to Redemption” 1440 Productions, LLC. Non-Independent $ 1,004,000
— “Untitled Jessica Buchanan Story” WB Studio Enterprises, Inc. Non-Independent $ 6,151,000
— “Untitled Paramount Project” Paramount Pictures Corporation Non-Independent $ 22,394,000
— “Untitled Universal” Pictures Project Universal City Studios, LLC Non-Independent $ 11,563,000
— “White Girl Problems” Lions Gate Entertainment, Inc. Non-Independent $3,049,000
Related stories
Lady Gaga Goes Full Rocker With Metallica at Grammys
Prince, George Michael to Receive Tributes at 2017 Grammys
Lady Gaga to Duet With Metallica at 2017 Grammys
Get more from Variety and Variety411: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
