L.A. County weighs a grant fund to keep indie films from leaving

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Set us as preferred Independent filmmaker Sylvia Ray always wanted to shoot her first feature film, “The Middle,” in California — as it’s set in Barstow, where she grew up.Instead, she shot it in Mexico.The math made the decision for her.

Grants and incentives from the municipality of Torreón and the state of Coahuila covered 30-40% of her production budget, which came in under a million dollars.She didn’t pay for filming permits.

On-site security was provided.Local hotels came in as sponsors.

Over 21 days in March and April, the production hired 75 local crew members and college students.“All I needed was a desert landscape and American homes.I could have definitely shot it in L.A.

comfortably.Had I gotten more support and made it make sense for us financially,” Ray said.

“But it just didn’t.”Her budget was too small to qualify for any California film incentive at the time, as the state’s program doesn’t reach projects costing under $1 million.Filmmakers and producers say that gap is the whole problem.

California’s incentives, even after the recent expansion, are built for productions several rungs above them.Los Angeles County has plans to change that.Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger are developing an Entertainment Evergreen Fund, first introduced last July, which would channel money to productions the state’s tax credit doesn’t reach.

It isn’t a tax credit, rather a grant program.Hollywood Inc.

Nearly three dozen indie movies, along with big animated films from Disney and DreamWorks Animation, are among the recipients of California’s latest round of film tax credits.No dollar amount has been attached and the county has not committed funding.The board intends to explore a public-private model, with funding sources, amounts and any cost sharing determined only after an ...