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Skeleton Crew: Star Wars Series Receives $20.9M in CA Tax Subsidies

Published Mon, 18 Jul 2022 10:40:12 -0500

Well, it would appear that "Star Wars" universe series Skeleton Crew will be boldly going where no other streaming series has gone before (I know…). Yup, to California- except the streaming series has also received $20.9 million in tax subsidies from the state. Set during "the post–'Return of the Jedi' reconstruction that follows the fall of the Empire," the 2023-debuting series (previously codenamed "Grammar Rodeo") stems from director Jon Watts and writer Chris Ford (Spider-Man: Homecoming) and has been referred to as "a galactic version of classic Amblin coming-of-age adventure films of the '80s" within the hallways of Lucasfilm. Jude Law has officially joined the cast, with Watts, Ford, Jon Favreau & Dave Filoni executive producing.

So here's why that's a first. The recent run of "Star Wars" films shoot in the United Kingdom, where they receive subsidies from the government. But when it comes to The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka, you have shows that were filmed in California (at Manhattan Beach's state-of-the-art soundstage facility MBS Media Campus) but did so without tax breaks from the state (according to records available via the California Film Commission). Reports are that Skeleton Crew will also be filming at that location (especially considering it houses ILM's righteously impressive StageCraft technology). Here's hoping that the series has a better future than the project that holds the record for most expensive television/streaming series ever funded by California's tax credit program. Showtime's 2020 one-and-done supernatural period drama Penny Dreadful: City of Angels received $24.7 million in state tax incentives, but the thematic spinoff from the original cable series would go on to run for only one season. In terms of other series, Skeleton Crew's haul comes in ahead of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Picard (clocking in at $20.6 million) and HBO's Westworld, which saw its coffers receiving tax incentives of $20.5 million for the fourth season & $20.3 million for the third season.

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