In the Golden State, lawmakers hope to prevent Hollywood from filming movies and shows in other places by expanding current tax breaks for productions in California.
State Assemblyman Rick Chavez Zbur and state Sen. Ben Allen, both Democrats, introduced a pair of bills, AB 1138 and SB 630, which they claim will modernize the tax credit for television and film in the state. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) proposed increasing the state’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program from $330 million annually to $750 million.
Zbur and other local leaders made their pitch for updating the tax credit during a press conference at the SAG-AFTRA headquarters on Wednesday. He expressed gratitude for Newsom’s proposal but argued more must be done to compete with other states for film and television productions.
“We were pleased and excited to learn about Gov. Newsom’s proposal to increase the tax credit to $750 million annually, which will greatly relieve the oversubscription to the program,” Zbur said. “However, let me be clear: increasing the dollars in the credit program will not by itself bring back the thousands of jobs that we are losing to Georgia, Canada, New York, Australia, and now Texas, and even Nevada and other states.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stressed the importance of the tax credit for keeping Hollywood productions in California. She also warned that without adjustments to the credit to compete with other states, California would continue to lose productions.
“I don’t want to stand here five years from now and reminisce about an industry that has left us,” Bass said while pushing for a more dynamic tax credit for film productions.
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Southern California and the film industry have had a rough first half of the decade, from the COVID-19 pandemic and harsh lockdowns to the lengthy writers and actors strikes and the destructive wildfires in LA earlier this year.
In the past decade, other states’ film industries have blossomed while California, still the creative hub for the U.S. film industry, has seen an increasing number of productions film elsewhere. The Golden State has lost productions despite several actors and executives expressing opposition to laws passed in states such as Georgia.
