If you’re like me, you hunkered down and did what you could to ‘Survive til 25’ and now we’re here. Well, where is all the relief? Where are the people buying and producing movies and TV shows so we can all have jobs?
It’s March, and I kind of thought things would be different by now, but the town is only inching forward.
One thing that did catch my eye was a new initiative called “Keep California Rolling” which aimed to bring production back to the state.
The initiative was spawned by the WGAW, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, Teamster Local 399, AFM, California IATSE Council, and LIUNA Local 724.
Its main principle is simple and important: when the film and TV industry is thriving, so is the state of California.
We need more cast and crew making salaries that allow them to stay in the state, especially in Los Angeles, where filmmaking is such a huge part of the economy.
Over the last decade or so, we’ve seen California become incredibly expensive to shoot in. By some estimates, it’s cheaper to fly everyone to shoot in London than it would be to shoot locally.
These issues were brought up to Governor Gavin Newsom, and the mass exodus of people and work did affect policy change.
Newsom’s proposed expansion of the California Film & Television Job Program to $750 million annually is critical to ensuring that thousands of middle-class workers can continue to stay and live here.
But there’s more to be done.
There are plenty of states with better incentives than California, so we need to catch up with them and pass other initiatives that make this an attractive place to make movies and TV before we lose Hollywood for good.
Showrunner Julie Plec and indie filmmaker Sarah Adina Smith wrote an op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter addressing these concerns as part of the “Keep California Rolling” initiative.
In it, they added ten key points that can be done in order to make things better.
Check them out below.
1. Support Gov. Gavin Newsom’s $750 million budget cap raise on the incentive and urge him to temporarily uncap the incentive for three years in L.A. County as part of efforts to rebuild after the fires.
2. Educate legislators in Sacramento that a more competitive incentive is about job creation and isn’t simply a “corporate handout.” As of August, the unemployment rate in the film and TV sector reached 12.5 percent, marking the industry’s highest August unemployment rate since at least 2000, excluding the pandemic period. This rate is nearly triple the national average.
3. Raise the tax incentive amount to 30 percent for both films and television shows. This number is the bare minimum to make California competitive. Offer an additional 5 percent for any film below $10 million to encourage more independent films to shoot in California.
4. Support a bill funding postproduction that is not contingent upon shooting in state. New York has this, the U.K. has this … and it’s why their postproduction businesses are booming and L.A.’s is hurting. The postproduction carve-out should include music for film and TV scores, too.
5. Consider a new bill targeting commercial and music video production, which has also plummeted. Shortform production is how many cast and crewmembers make ends meet between TV or film gigs.
6. Lift restrictions on shooting outside and in public spaces in L.A. (emulating NYC’s successful program) and offer a temporary reduction in permit fees in conjunction with loosening up notification requirements to reduce FilmLA’s staffing costs.
7. Neighborhood councils can create film-friendly corridors and residential zones. The county can offer discounted property taxes for all who participate.
8. The city and county can offer unused or underused property as free “base camps” for production. Create an easy-to-use map of all these areas.
9. Waive or defer L.A. city tax on productions and consider a city ordinance temporarily capping location fees to combat price gouging and to make it easier for productions to afford to shoot.
10. Perhaps most crucially, studios and streamers must do their part by pledging to shoot more in L.A. County, demonstrating a commitment to rebuilding after the fires.
If you feel like this is a cause you support, you can sign the petition at stayinla.org. And if you’re in other parts of California, you can see how all this would benefit you.
After the fires, we really are in a state of emergency. And we need commerce to stay in state. We have to make it easier for producers to greenlight projects that happen in Los Angeles.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Author: Jason Hellerman
This article comes from No Film School and can be read on the original site.
