If California can successfully pass a bill that will more than double the amount of money the state allocates in tax credits for film and TV production, it will be a huge boon to an entertainment industry that has seen California and Los Angeles bleeding jobs to out of state and out of country. But for a major chunk of the industry, those working in post-production specifically, it still may not be enough.
At a film and TV industry town hall event hosted in Burbank on Monday, April 14, entertainment leaders and workers within sound editing, music, composing, foley, VFX, and more gathered to explain how dire the situation has become in Hollywood for middle class and working class professionals and what more needs to be done to ensure jobs return to Southern California.
Panelists who spoke as part of the event not only pleaded with attendees to reach out to their assembly members and senators to get the tax credit bill passed, but they also advocated for more, specifically a standalone post-production incentive or carve out that would help ensure movies and shows that start here also finish here.
“Depending on the size of a film, post-production can employ dozens to hundreds of people. Traditionally, it’s not unusual to shoot out of state or out of country based on the creative needs of the story. However, it always came back to California to post. That’s not been the case anymore,” said Karen Baker Landers, a sound editor and designer who has won two Oscars. “Visual effects, sound, picture, music, have been migrating out of California chasing these tax incentives. This has cost the state thousands of jobs not only in the entertainment industry but in all the business all around that support us.”
Baker Landers argued that a carve out in the current bill proposal would use minimal amounts of the overall tax credit allocation, as most films’ production budget has only a small portion dedicated for post. But she said the economic impact in terms of jobs created, as well as the emotional one for people who can return home after shooting abroad, would be “substantial.” She noted that New York, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Australia, the UK, and Spain all have this particular carve out and are more competitive for it.
California Governor Gavin Newsom as part of his proposed budget suggested increasing California’s filming tax credit allotment from $330 million to $750 million. In addition, two state bills, SB 630 and AB 1138, would reform California’s criteria to receive these credits. The bills’ sponsors, California State Senator Ben Allen of District 24 and California State Assemblyman Rick Zbur with District 51, were present at the town hall and spoke on behalf of the bills.
The proposed bills as written would first increase the base tax credit from 20 percent to 35 percent, which would help make California overall more attractive to productions. It would expand the definitions of a qualified production so that indies, animated projects, documentaries, shorter niche streaming series, and more could all earn credits. It would increase the types of incentives for indies and provide additional perks for those projects shooting outside the Thirty Mile Zone. Series that return season-over-season would get additional benefits. And it even hopes to lift the current $100 million budget cap in terms of what projects qualify.
“The studios don’t care where they do the work. They’ll do it anywhere,” Allen said to the crowd, pushing back on the notion that this is a giveaway for big studio corporations. “They’re still producing incredible shows and films, they’re just doing it elsewhere, and what a lot of our colleagues don’t understand is that this is a middle class, working class problem. The studio heads are going to bed in Bel Air no matter what.”
What the bills do not include — and what Allen and Zbur did not get a chance to respond to — is that added carve out for post-production and music scoring. One speaker during the evening, vocal contractor Jasper Randall, even wondered why the state doesn’t “open the floodgates” and eliminate the budget cap entirely as Georgia has done. Other producers have criticized the red tape that is required to qualify and feel that a higher incentive won’t go far enough on its own. California Film Commissioner Colleen Bell and FilmLA VP of Integrated Communications Philip Sokoloski were also both panelists at the town hall discussing some of these challenges.
Adding a post-production carve out to the bills at this stage would be a major political hurdle, but not impossible, as they can still be amended in the committee review process, which begins next Tuesday. Newsom’s budget for the fiscal year beginning on July 1 would be approved on June 15.
The town hall, which took place in a packed house at Evergreen Studios in Burbank, arrived on the same day FilmLA released its latest report that showed on-location production in Greater Los Angeles declined by 22.4 percent from January through March 2025 compared to the year prior, even noting that the damage from the Palisades Fires created only a minimal impact on shoot days.
Other panelists throughout the evening included Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., ProdPro CEO Alex LoVerde, and the leads of the grassroots Stay in LA Campaign Pamala Buzick Kim and Noelle Stehman.
“This is not hyperbole to say that if we don’t act, the California film and TV industry will become the next Detroit auto,” Stehman said.
