California Awards $296 Million in TV Tax Credits, Expands to Animated and Competition Shows

The doctors at the fictional Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center will be getting an infusion of cash from the California Film Commission when they return for Season 3 of “The Pitt.”

The show, which films in Burbank, will get $24.2 million in state subsidies, up from the $12.2 million awarded for each of the first two seasons.

Gov. Gavin Newsom more than doubled the state’s film subsidy to $750 million last year in response to a dramatic downturn in production. But as “The Pitt” shows, that extra money does not translate to a proportional increase in jobs.

While the state’s investment in the HBO Max show will double, the show’s below-the-line budget will increase only slightly, from $66 million to $69 million. And “The Pitt” will employ the exact same number of crew — 180 — as it did in Season 2.

Lawmakers designed the expanded credit to be more generous to each project, without the expectation that doing so would necessarily lead to more jobs. Supporters have argued that the goal included preserving jobs that might otherwise have gone to other states.

In a few cases, however, productions that already intended to shoot in California — and had been allocated tax credits under the old program — withdrew and reapplied under the new program, reaping a multimillion dollar windfall.

Newsom announced on Wednesday that 16 TV shows will receive $296 million in state funding, including “The Pitt,” HBO’s “I Love LA” and “Rooster,” and a new Jimmy Kimmel competition show with YouTuber Mark Rober.

An untitled project from Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation will receive the highest amount of funds, at $48 million, followed by “Giant,” a new HBO series, at $38.3 million.

For the first time in the program’s history, animated and competition shows will also be part of the slate. New additions include Adult Swim’s “President Curtis” and “Stewie,” a spin-off from the “Family Guy” series. “Schooled!” from Rober and Kimmel will also become the first-ever competition series to receive an award.

Additionally, four projects were approved under the Soundstage Tax Credit Program, which aims to support expanded studio infrastructure. The projects include “How to Survive Without Me,” “I Love LA,” “I Suck at Girls,” and “Rooster.”

The commission has struggled in recent months to present complete information about the projects it is sponsoring. This announcement was no different, as the commission listed several “untitled” projects that are already on TV. After issuing an initial list in an embargoed press release, the commission then sought to retract the names of two projects — “Rooster” and “Medusa” — saying, in the former case, that talent deals are not finalized for Season 2.