On June 1, the California Film Commission will begin accepting applications for the third year of the immensely successful California Film & Television Tax Credit Program. The incentive, which was passed in 2009, is a five-year, $500 million program design to encourage film and television production to stay in California, and was the result of 10 years of active lobbying by the DGA and other members of a coalition including IATSE locals, AFTRA, SAG, the Teamsters and others to combat runaway production.
Efforts are now underway in Sacramento to extend the program until 2019, and the Guild has been actively engaged in demonstrating to lawmakers the importance and value of the incentive in keeping the entertainment industry alive and thriving in California.
In March, DGA Assistant Executive Director Regina Render and DGA Board Member/UPM Cleve Landsberg spoke at informational hearings to express the Guild’s support of the state production incentive and role of the entertainment industry in providing good jobs for thousands of cast and crew members and billions in direct spending. Render spoke in Pasadena before the State Assembly’s Select Committee on the Preservation of California’s Entertainment Industry, chaired by Assembly Member Anthony J. Portantino, while Landsberg testified in Sacramento at a joint oversight hearing before the Assembly’s Revenue and Taxation Committee, chaired by Assembly Member Henry Perea; and the Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee, which is chaired by Assembly Member Nora Campos.
Landsberg described the role of the unit production manager in helping producers, directors and studio executives evaluate where to shoot a film and noted that production incentives are an important element in that decision. “Thanks to the creation of the California incentive in 2009, California put itself back on the map,” he told lawmakers.
Recently, Assembly Member Felipe Fuentes introduced Assembly Bill 1069, which would extend the California incentive program until 2019. The Guild, together with the coalition that lobbied for the original tax incentive program, sent a letter to Assembly Member Fuentes thanking him for introducing the legislation and urging state lawmakers to continue supporting the tax incentive.
“The success of the California Film and Television Incentive Program is unequivocal,” they wrote. “Since the program began in 2009, eligible productions have generated $2.2 billion in direct spending. Productions retained due to the program are employing over 31,000 cast and crew members. Our members are being employed on these productions. Similarly reaping the economic benefit from the incentive are local businesses throughout the state, such as hotels, dry cleaners, and caterers.”
