Quentin Tarantino‘s 10th and what he has teased as his final movie will shoot in Los Angeles and has qualified to receive $20 million in tax credits for filming in the state of California, the California Film Commission announced Friday.
Several times a year, the California Film Commission announces a crop of studio and independent films that can qualify to receive state tax credits as an incentive for filming within California. This quarter, Tarantino’s project — which he submitted to the Commission simply as “#10” — is among the three big-budget studio projects and 13 indies that meet the criteria for shooting within state lines and will generate enough jobs and “qualified spending.” The 16 projects qualify for a combined $77.8 million in tax credits.
“I love shooting in California. I started directing movies here and it is only fitting that I shoot my final motion picture in the cinema capital of the world,” Tarantino said in a statement. “There is nothing like shooting in my hometown; the crews are the best I’ve ever worked with, and the locations are amazing. The producers and I are thrilled to be making #10 in Los Angeles.”
“#10” will bring in $128 million in qualified expenditures for the state, and his movie along with the two other studio films — one called “Under My Skin” and the other an untitled Netflix movie — will generate a combined $362 million in qualified spending, which is defined as wages paid to below-the-line workers and in-state vendors across California.
That’s a record amount of spending generated by a single round of tax credits in the state for the tax credit program, which back in July was extended by Governor Gavin Newsom for another five years. And the idea is that beyond just production spending, the 16 projects announced today will also generate significant post-production jobs and revenue for California visual effects artists, sound editors, sound mixers, musicians, and other industry workers/vendors.
Some important caveats: Because there’s a strike going on, Tarantino’s movie and all the other movies that qualified won’t be starting production any time soon, and as with all projects as part of the tax credit program, they won’t receive that money until after production wraps and all other wages and expenses have been paid. What’s more, the Film Commission normally requires projects that qualify to start filming within 180 days, but a strike allows them to invoke a “force majeure” provision to pause that clock.
“While production is now drastically reduced, today’s news about projects in our tax credit program signals there will be a much-welcome surge in California-based production once the strikes are resolved,” California Film Commission executive director Colleen Bell said in a statement.
“#10” is also just a placeholder title Tarantino has submitted to the Film Commission. When he previously qualified “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” for the tax credit program, Tarantino submitted it as “Magnum Opus.”
Tarantino previously said back in May that he expected to begin pre-production on what he called “The Movie Critic” in June. The film is set in 1977 in Southern California and has an arc similar to Travis Bickle in “Taxi Driver” about a “porno rag” journalist who writes for a fictionalized publication called “The Popstar Pages.” Tarantino said that the project is based on someone who really existed but wasn’t famous, yet was known for his funny, rude, profane, and even racist movie reviews before passing away in his mid-30s.
Tarantino has frequently said that he hoped to retire from filmmaking after making a nice round number of 10 feature movies, though he’s never not been busy with various other projects he’s discussed over the years.
The next application period for the tax credit program for feature films will be held January 8-15, 2024. The next application period for TV projects will be held September 4-13.
