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Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Entertainment Union Coalition Launches ‘Keep California Rolling' Campaign To Bolster State's Film & TV Jobs
The Entertainment Union Coalition has launched a campaign aimed at keeping film and TV jobs in California, marking the latest in a series of moves from both lawmakers and Hollywood workers to reinforce the state's production industry. 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. More from Deadline California Lawmakers Introduce Bills To "Modernize" Film & TV Tax Credit Program In Conjunction With Newsom's Proposed Expansion WGA East Slams MSNBC's "Mass Layoffs" As 99 Staffers Brace For Impact Amid Network Shakeup WGA West President Meredith Stiehm Calls On Studios To Sue AI Companies, Takes Aim At Trump At Guild Awards: "We Do Not Cower In The Face Of Bullies" 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. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery How To Watch The 2025 Oscars Online And On TV How Jon Gries' Return To 'The White Lotus' Could Shape Season 3
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
California Lawmakers Introduce Bills To 'Modernize' Film & TV Tax Credit Program In Conjunction With Newsom's Proposed Expansion
The California State Legislature has acknowledged that money alone may not be enough to entice production back to the state, introducing a pair of bills Wednesday aimed at bolstering Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan to expand the state's Film and Television Tax Credit Program. The bills, sponsored by Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Isaac Bryan, are meant to 'amend, update, and modernize' the current program beyond Newsom's commitment to increase the tax credits from their present level of $330 million a year to around $750 million annually. More from Deadline WGA East Slams MSNBC's "Mass Layoffs" As 99 Staffers Brace For Impact Amid Network Shakeup DC's James Gunn & Peter Safran On Keeping Shoots Like 'Lanterns' Local In L.A. & Whether It's Possible With 'Clayface' WGA West President Meredith Stiehm Calls On Studios To Sue AI Companies, Takes Aim At Trump At Guild Awards: "We Do Not Cower In The Face Of Bullies" 'Something like 77% of the projects that are unable to secure a tax credit here in the state end up going elsewhere,' Allen said during a press conference at SAG-AFTRA on Wednesday. They wanted to do the work here, and nearly all of them, when they don't get the credit, end up leaving. This has led to a loss of nearly $1B dollars in production spending, which equates to lost jobs, lost economic gains…It's such a lost opportunity, given all that we know that we have here and the fact that we should be doing the work here.' The exact plans for how, exactly, to reshape California's Film and Television Tax Credit Program weren't unveiled Wednesday, but Chavez Zbur gave some guidance on what the legislature hopes to accomplish with these bills. 'I can tell you that the effective rate of the programs will increase to a formula that is competitive with those states and countries who are luring our jobs away,' he said. 'I can tell you that we will be 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 not yet set in stone, given California's 2025-26 budget is still being negotiated, though it still seems very likely to be approved. Allen assured Wednesday that the plan remains at the forefront of the governor's mind, despite the other issues weighing on Los Angeles at the moment, including relief and recovery from January's historic wildfires. 'All of those are massive headwinds, but it actually underscores why we need to do this so much because of all the economic implications at play here,' he told reporters, arguing that the tax credit 'generates economic activity' that will greatly benefit the state. California has suffered from plummeting production, particularly in Los Angeles, over the last several decades has other territories have begun offering more financial incentives for film and TV production. New Jersey, Nevada, and Utah have been putting more tax credit money on the table, and New York nearly doubled its own tax credit to $700M last year. Jurisdictions like Georgia, Ontario and the UK do not have caps on their subsidies. The last few years have been especially trying, given a global production contraction that has only exacerbated the problems at the local level. According to a recent report from FilmLA, production in Los Angeles was down more than 30% over five-year averages in 2024. Best of Deadline How To Watch The 2025 Oscars Online And On TV How Jon Gries' Return To 'The White Lotus' Could Shape Season 3 Which Colleen Hoover Books Are Becoming Movies? 'Verity,' 'Reminders Of Him' & 'Regretting You' Will Join 'It Ends With Us'
