Entertainment Union Coalition Launches ‘Keep California Rolling' Campaign To Bolster State's Film & TV Jobs
Keep California Rolling is a labor-led initiative, described to Deadline as the unions' answer to Stay in LA, another similar initiative led by some of the industry's biggest stars as well as top film and TV writers and producers.
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Its main goal will be to urge the state to explore more ways to rework its current jobs-based incentive program to attract production back to the state, in addition to supporting Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to expand the California Film & TV Tax Credit from $330M annually to $750M.
On March 5, nearly 100 workers from across the Entertainment Union Coalition's member entities will travel to Sacramento to lobby lawmakers on the jobs-based program. Among those represented will be the American Federation of Musicians, California IATSE Council, Directors Guild of America, LiUNA! Local 724, SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters Local 399, and the Writers Guild of America West.
'California's entertainment industry sustains hundreds of thousands of middle-class jobs across every sector and in every corner the state,' EUC President and Directors Guild of America Western Executive Director Rebecca Rhine said in a statement. 'It's essential that the expansion of the Film & TV tax credit program prioritizes workers rather than corporate profits. The EUC fully supports the governor's proposal, marking the most significant expansion to the program in decades, but we must ensure it delivers on its promise: keeping production, and the jobs it creates, right here in California, where workers and their families can thrive in their own communities.'
The announcement of Keep California Rolling comes one day after state lawmakers introduced a pair of bills that are meant to 'amend, update, and modernize' the current Film & TV Tax Credit Program, sponsored by Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Isaac Bryan. Details on how the program might be reshaped were not revealed yet, but Chavez Zbur vowed it would include 'expanding the kinds of productions that qualify for the program, again, focusing on those productions which we are losing and that provide the best jobs.'
Newsom's proposed expansion of the tax credit is also not yet set in stone, given California's 2025-26 budget is still being negotiated, though it still seems very likely to be approved.
Hollywood workers have been sounding an alarm for several decades on the loss of production jobs in California, particularly as other territories have begun offering more financial incentives for film and TV production. Several jurisdictions have no caps on their subsidies, including Georgia, Ontario and the UK.
In an impact report released Thursday, the Entertainment Union Coalition says that from 2015 to 2020, about 50% of the 312 productions that did not qualify for California's tax credit incentive relocated to another area, resulting in an approximate loss of 28,000 jobs and $7.7B in economic activity.
Local concerns have only grown over the last few years as work became even more scarce due to work stoppages from a global pandemic and historically, long dual strikes, followed by a massive, global contraction in production spending. According to a recent report from FilmLA, production in Los Angeles was down more than 30% over five-year averages in 2024.
The Entertainment Union Coalitions report also makes the case for the impact of the film and television industry beyond just direct job loss, illustrating how production supports tourism, hospitality, and more local industries in California. Per a 2023 report from the Motion Picture Association, the U.S. film and television industry alone supports more than 2 million jobs and contributes over $180B in total wages, encompassing 122,000 businesses nationwide.
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