EXCLUSIVE: A decade after the last major overhaul of California’s film and TV tax credits program, Gov. Gavin Newsom today will unveil a massive increase in the incentives to jump start work and production in the home of Hollywood.
In an announcement this afternoon at Raleigh Studios, the Governor will reveal that he aims to boost the state’s tax credits from their present level of $330 million a year to around $750 million annually, I’ve learned
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The whooping increase will not take place immediately, and is subject to approval by the Democratic majority legislature in the Golden State’s 2025-2026 budget. However, in this election year of close down ticket races, Sunday’s announcement is intended to swell confidence locally for an industry and a workforce that has seen production in L.A. and across the state dramatically shrink and jobs dry up over the last year or so, sources say.
To that end, Gov. Newsom will be joined at today’s press conference by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and a praetorian guard of labor leaders, below-the-line workers, state officials and industry advisors. Mayor Bass has been a big proponent of increasing the state tax credits to offset the “slowing,” as the Mayor told Deadline in August, of production in the city. With L.A. production down double digits in 2023, Bass has also floated the notion of a local tax credit.
Regardless of if that idea ever becomes a reality, it has been clear even before last year’s labor unrest that something needed to change with the state tax credits program
“The program is oversubscribed and out of date” an insider exclaims of California’s current big and small screen program, which offers 20-25% tax credits for studio/streamer films, indie films, new TV series and relocating shows. “So many productions don’t even apply because there is such a slim chance they’ll be successful. And the industry, the crews and content delivery methods have changed dramatically over the past 10 years, so what the state offers doesn’t meet basic needs, and barely competes with Atlanta or Canada.”
Besides pumping up the bottom line, today’s increase proclamation by Gov. Newsom will change nothing else about the California Film Commission administered program, I’m told. No new categories, no new percentages, nada.
Source : Yahoo News Global