Photo: Jim Baldwin/Baldwin Production Services
SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Board of Supervisors has agreed to extend the city’s Film Rebate Program through June 2019 and establish a funding limit of $4 million over the four-year period.
The program, which was created in 2006, allows film production companies that film in San Francisco to receive a rebate of up to 100 percent of qualifying costs paid directly to the city. Qualifying costs include taxes paid to the city, daily use permit fees, property lease expenses and costs associated with the use of city equipment, property or employees’ time.
Each film production can receive up to $600,000 in rebates.
Susannah Robbins, executive director of the San Francisco Film Commission, estimated that the program has generated more than $53 million of spending within the city.
“The program’s ability to draw such highly visible productions to base in San Francisco helps to provide longer term employment for local crew and actors, a larger amount of money injected into the local economy,” Robbins said. “It also keeps the city front and center in the eyes of the world, making it an important asset in attracting tourism.”
According to Robbins, the past two years of the program have been the most productive since its inception.
During the 2013-14 fiscal year, seven productions received rebates for a total of $831,504. Robbins said the program has provided $723,995 in rebates for three productions during the current fiscal year.
Notable television shows and films that have taken advantage of the rebates include Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine,” HBO’s “Looking” and NBC’s “Trauma.”
Universal Pictures’ “Steve Jobs,” scheduled for release in October, applied but has not yet submitted the final paperwork necessary to receive a rebate as of press time.
