‘Legion,’ ‘Lucifer,’ ‘The Affair,’ Among 15 Shows Getting California Tax Credits

Despite what Charlie Daniels claims, the devil did not go down to Georgia after all but rather California, when it comes to tax incentives. Fox’s relocating Lucifer joins FX’s just-renewed Legion, Showtime’s The Affair and Netflix’s The OA among 15 TV projects that will receive big-bucks tax credits from the Golden State, the California Film Commission revealed today.

Deadline broke the news this month that the previously Vancouver-filmed Warner Bros TV-produced Lucifer was moving to Los Angeles for its third season, but relocating series have been a top priority for California’s TV and Film program since it was revamped and expanded more than two years ago. The upcoming untitled Seth MacFarlane dramedy series for Fox and Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy spinoff pilot Mayans M.C. also are among those who received tax incentives today, along with the untitled new Alan Ball series for HBO, listed as Here, Now; another high-profile upcoming HBO drama series, the Amy Adams-starring Sharp Objects; and Dick Wolf’s Law & Order: True Crime anthology series for NBC.

Three of the six broadcast drama pilots filming in Los Angeles this season qualified for credits, Fox’s Behind Enemy Lines and CBS’ S.W.A.T. and The Get.

Noah Hawley’s Marvel series Legion is getting the second biggest incentive after Lucifer at $11.03 million out of the $99.2 million available all in this round. Here is the full list of the latest allocations, with the amount of their individual tax credit:

This latest round sees the most relocating series the tax program has ever landed in one go, with two from incentive-rich Vancouver and two from New York. “We’re wrapping up Year 2 of Program 2.0 on a very high note with a record number of relocating TV series,” CFC executive director Amy Lemisch said. “The tax credit program is working as intended to reaffirm California’s status as the preferred choice for film and TV production.”

Last year, the self-titled Film and TV Credit Program 2.0 scored with HBO’s Ballers ditching Florida for California for its third season. This round saw 25 projects seek tax incentives, with more than half being approved.

The CFC estimates that the rewarded projects will spend about $620 million in in-state including $235 million in paychecks to more than 4,400 crew and cast members.

Once topped out at $100 million a year when first introduced in 2009, Gov. Jerry Brown greatly expanded the incentive when he signed the now-five-year, $330 million-a-year tax credit program into law in September 2014. As part of the emphasis to bring jobs back to the home of Hollywood, the expanded program laid particular weight on relocating series and projects.

To that end, besides Ballers and now Lucifer, shows such as Veep, American Horror Story and Screen Queens have been awarded California credits in recent years and moved from other states to go into production in and around Los Angeles.

The next application round for TV projects runs May 22-29, with an announcement expected around July 1 on who receives incentives. The latest film round was made public last month, with the latest version of A Star Is Born and a Clint Eastwood-directed pic among the projects getting a piece of the $100 million on the table. Another film round will be open from June 19-27, with winners announced around July 24.