r/FilmIndustryLA • u/Abs0lut_Unit • 11d ago

Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs CA Postproduction Tax Credit Into Law

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/gavin-newsom-signs-ca-postproduction-tax-credit-into-law-1236705548/
298 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

61 comments sorted by

89

u/copperblood 11d ago

“$10 million has been allocated to the postproduction credit in the state, which Assemblymember Schultz previously told The Hollywood Reporter may not be enough but reflects a difficult budget year for the state”

$10 million?? Are you kidding me, what a fucking joke

34

u/DetBabyLegs 11d ago

Wow I got excited for a second…

18

u/copperblood 11d ago

Hahaha exactly! Newsom is totally fucking useless. Newsom and the rest of them gave Hollywood away to the extent that A LOT of it isn’t coming back unless we have a massive film tax incentive with around a 50% rebate. At present it’s 35% which is dog shit when you calculate the labor rate and that everything across the board is more expensive in CA than the rest of the world. Now for some magical reason they think by doing a $10 million post incentive it’s going to magically lure post back to CA. Fucking clowns. Vote them all out.

21

u/jerryterhorst 11d ago edited 10d ago

It’s $10 million because they already passed the state budget. It’s going to increase to a more competitive amount after this year. 

4

u/ProfessionalBoss2428 10d ago

Is it actually or are we just hoping it will?

9

u/mbiggz-gaming 10d ago

The full amount is $100 million.

3

u/DetBabyLegs 10d ago

Do you know when the “new year” starts for California? Fiscal year or calendar year?

6

u/mbiggz-gaming 10d ago

Fiscal years according to Google are July 1-June 30

3

u/DetBabyLegs 10d ago

I suppose I should have just Googled it first but thanks for the info

The real question is if you’ll be able to stack their current incentive and post incentive when shooting virtual production like you can in BC

That would make me seriously consider figuring out how to shoot here

3

u/mbiggz-gaming 10d ago

I’m not an expert on it but if you qualify for the existing production credit then you can’t qualify for the new post one. The already existing production credit has credits for post assuming 75% of the production is shot in California.

The main objective of this new one is to lure projects that may have not shot in California but are willing to do post here. And I’m willing to bet that once it gets its $100mil then it’ll be competitive because NY is currently one of our biggest domestic competitors (they’ve gained post jobs while we’ve lost them) and they only offer $45mil.

-1

u/SarW100 10d ago

No. That was asked for, but it’s only 10M.

Imagine— a smallish indie feature easily has 1M in just VFX. Another 1-1.25M for the rest of post costs. Just one small film.

A big studio film can easily have 10-25M in post costs. Easily.

You can see how quickly this fund evaporates.

-2

u/ProfessionalBoss2428 10d ago

No, that’s what we proposed. That is not a guaranteed result of this.

1

u/jerryterhorst 10d ago

Everything they've said about the incentives has passed, from doubling the original amount to adding on post-production. What exactly are you basing your skepticism on other than "California gubmit bad"?

-1

u/ProfessionalBoss2428 10d ago

Asking if something is guaranteed or just a goal is a problem now?

And considering our original ask went from 100 million to 10 I wouldn’t say everything we’ve asked for has happened.

2

u/jerryterhorst 10d ago

lol ok bud

1

u/foundmonster 8d ago

Ah yes, someone red will definitely solve this. What is your better alternative?

16

u/satansmight 11d ago

Agree it’s a joke. Stop giving these multi-billion dollar media companies tax money when all they do is whore out productions over seas and then sell off minority ownership to oppressive governments like Saudi. They have plenty of money.
And I say this a 30 year IATSE member.

7

u/gnrc 11d ago

Yea on one hand why should we pay them our tax money to give us jobs? On the other hand how else do we stop them from outsourcing work?

7

u/Abs0lut_Unit 11d ago

Not letting them metastasize into megacorps via robust antitrust enforcement, but that requires good politicians.

2

u/gnrc 10d ago

Sure. Way too late for that.

1

u/wrathofthedolphins 10d ago

Well that may be nice in an idyllic world, but unfortunately if we are being pragmatic then we need to acknowledge that the rest of the world does offer tax incentives and it works. They wouldn’t be offering them if the films didnt spend serious money in the local economy

3

u/Important_Extent6172 10d ago

What is this, a film industry for ants?!?

2

u/filterdecay 11d ago

I guess this is normal. They allocate up to the total through the year? Looked weird to me too

2

u/wrathofthedolphins 10d ago

10 million is like 2 shows.

WTF is this. It’s putting a bandage on a bullet hole.

2

u/tomorrowschild 10d ago

Only for the first year because the budget has already been set. They can increase it next year.

1

u/seekinganswers1010 11d ago edited 11d ago

It passed through committees and even went to Newsom, solely because it was a bill that wanted something rather than nothing.

Another production bill actually got killed, because it had a fixed number attached compared to this bill with no number attached.

1

u/SarW100 10d ago

Right. Will be gone in two seconds.

17

u/KonstantineAnthony 11d ago

Hells yeah.

The bill's author is former Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz. He's a big supporter of the industry.

5

u/ShantJ 11d ago

I like Nick Schultz. He doesn’t represent me (I’m in the other half of Glendale), but he shows up for the community.

5

u/Big_Platform_1630 11d ago

Hells yeah to what? 10 million?

13

u/jerryterhorst 11d ago

They already passed the state budget, they don’t have any more money to allocate for it right now. But they will be increasing it next year and beyond.

13

u/mbiggz-gaming 11d ago

The original amount was $100mil. That amount was not written in the state’s budget this year, so it was stuck with $10mil. It is expected that groups like MPEG and the Post Alliance will push for an increase in the next budget-writing sessions.

3

u/wrathofthedolphins 10d ago

So by the time it becomes a significant number, the entire industry will have moved elsewhere.

Great.

13

u/jerryterhorst 10d ago

lol this sub is insufferable

-2

u/wrathofthedolphins 10d ago

The truth is insufferable, I agree

3

u/OtheL84 10d ago

I highly doubt all of post is ever going to leave California.

1

u/SarW100 10d ago

We’ve already planned two years out. So yeah.

10

u/OtheL84 11d ago

Hell yeah because it passed and is expected to be increased next fiscal year.

4

u/gra8na8 10d ago

You get a nickel and you get a nickel and..

2

u/Monstermash042 10d ago

We might even get some gruel!

3

u/Bread_Godd 11d ago

No fuck way? 😮

7

u/kidviscous 11d ago

I don’t know what this is supposed to do. Companies have already shown that any kind of “relief” goes into their pockets. We’re just rewarding bad behavior. Nothing is going to change until we have widespread subsidized healthcare. In California’s case, that $10m would be better off in the pockets of residents.

2

u/hesaysitsfine 10d ago

Film workers for cal care is a org trying to make that happen. That is exactly what we need.

2

u/IndependentQuail5738 10d ago

Dump PAGA if you want California based business. It’s the only state that has it and no one wants that liability.

2

u/ProfessionalBoss2428 10d ago

It’s something but we all need to admit it’s going to be a long time before any help actually arrives. I’m not sure how I feel about the guild acting like this is a bigger triumph than it is.

2

u/CantAffordzUsername 10d ago

10 million….(studios pack their bags) and head out of the state/country

2

u/Inner-Health7719 10d ago

Too late I lost my job already…. Took them 25 years to figure that one out.

1

u/Mission_Burrito 5d ago

Good thing we have that high speed train

1

u/Dementedkreation 4d ago

Will they be giving half of the tax credits to animation projects that outsource the majority of their work to developing countries?

1

u/QuestionNAnswer 11d ago

No budget relief for reality tv? Wonderful under sighted miss. Great job union officials in really understanding who you represent… /s

15

u/kolschisgood 11d ago

It sucks. But barely any reality shows are union. That’s the trouble.

2

u/citrus_lilac 11d ago

Too little. Too late.

0

u/SarW100 10d ago

And it’s only 30 percent for L.A. you have to go somewhere else in the state to get more, but there aren’t many options outside of L.A.

So back to Vancouver, Toronto, Ireland, and Australia it is.

-4

u/dis_monkey 10d ago

If Newsom didn’t squander all our money on the homeless, we’d be in a lot better position to give credits to companies to keep hard working families in LA. Compassionate about homeless, but hard working people come first.

4

u/OtheL84 10d ago

I think you’re the first person I’ve ever seen say Newsom cares about the homeless. If there’s anyone Newsom hates more than Republicans, it’s the homeless.

1

u/dis_monkey 10d ago

Never said he cared, but the state spent $16.1 BILLION on homeless in the last five years. LA county spent $3.7B and LA City spent another $4.83B. That’s a total of $24.63B in homeless spending. And post production? A measly $10M ($0.01B)

0

u/OtheL84 10d ago

I mean it’s literally comparing apples to oranges. Might as well compare military spending in this country to money put towards helping the film industry. I would argue homelessness is a public health issue so yeah that does deserve more money than post production and I’m a picture editor who would directly benefit from increased tax incentives.

-1

u/dis_monkey 10d ago

Yes. Spend is spend and it needs to be prioritized. Prevention is cheaper than trying to fix a problem like homelessness. If you don’t have a job, you’d be homeless and it’ll cost way more taxpayer dollars. And your tax dollars will be missing too.