On September 17th, DGA member and Western Assistant Directors/Unit Production Managers/Technical Coordinators Council Chair Cleve Landsberg spoke on behalf of the DGA before the California State Assembly’s Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry. The Committee is chaired by Assembly Member Paul Krekorian and the topic of the hearing was the impact of production incentives offered by other states on production in California. Landsberg’s abridged testimony appears below:
Increasingly our employers do not want us to work in California – not because they don’t like working in California, but because the cost differential is so pronounced between California and the states offering incentives.
Every [film and television] budget looks to hit a bottom line that either brings it in line with the financing available or in line with maximizing the quality that can be achieved on screen for the pre-determined budget limit. Every production company today looks at state incentives to figure out the best package for their project. It is expected that we will incorporate them into our planning.
Today, 35 states plus the District of Columbia offer incentives, ranging anywhere from five percent to 30 percent. At the upper end of that range, clearly it’s a HUGE inducement to go to those places. But even at the lower end, it can tip the scale of the decision we have to make.
California has so much to offer, and we, who live here, want to stay at home, but it is becoming more and more difficult to consider California as a primary option.
