‘Star Wars’ Series ‘Skeleton Crew,’ Shonda Rhimes’ White House Drama ‘The Residence,’ & Robert Downey Jr’s ‘The Sympathizer’ Adaptation Awarded Big CA Tax Credits

Dominic Patten
·3 min read
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There’s going to be some serious California financial meat on the bones of Star War series Skeleton Crew.

Hauling in a near-record $20.9 million in Golden State tax incentives, the Disney+ series starring Jude Law was among seven shows awarded lucrative credits today. As you can see in the list below, the 2023-premiering Skeleton Crew was joined by high-profile including Shonda Rhimes’ White House drama The Residence for Netflix, Robert Downey Jr’s adaption of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer for HBO.

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Along with the millions handed out in the latest round of the nearly decade-long revitalized incentive program, there are two relocating series. Both HBO’s about-to-premiere Rap Sh!t from Issa Rae and Peacock/Universal TV’s Killing It were given tax credits in anticipation of moves from Florida and Louisiana, respectively. Rap Sh!t has yet to be greenlighted for Season 2, but successful candidates are almost certain to be renewed, though it’s not guaranteed.

Killing It was renewed for a second season last month.

“Killing It is a show about dreams coming true, so it’s only fitting we would pack up our bags and move to Hollywood,” said EP and co-showrunner Del Tredici on Monday about the Craig Robinson-led series. Added fellow Killing It EP and showrunner Dan Goor, “We are thrilled to be making Season 2 in California, which not only has amazing crews and the best facilities but is also where our children are located.”

Since the revitalized California tax incentives were signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown nearly a decade ago, the focus of the now-$600 million annual program has been job creation and servicing local economies.

In this particular round of allocations, which was accepting applications from June 13-15, it is expected that the successful candidates will spend about $713 million in total in the state over their respective upcoming seasons. Of that, about $468 million in “qualified” spending, which is defined by the California Film Commission as “wages to below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors,” will be paid out. In these trying economic times, the CFC’s data projects that an estimated 1,953 crew members, 545 cast, and 21,691 background actors/stand-ins will be employed during their next season of production for each of the seven shows that were awarded tax credits today.

To drill down even more, coming-of-age-ish drama Skeleton Crew will show the financial Force is strong in California. The Star Wars show EP’d by Jon Watts, Chris Ford, Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan and Colin Wilson is projected to spend around $136 million in qualified expenditures during its first cycle in the Golden State.

So if you are planning for the next round of applications, the next period to apply online for tax credits for small-screen projects will be from September 19-21. The next application period for big-screen projects will be held July 18-20. The successful candidates will be announced on October 24 and August 22, respectively.

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