The California Legislature has failed the members of IATSE Local 80 by not keeping California’s Film Tax Incentive programs competitive with other states.

Georgia, in particular, has declared war on California’s film industry by offering over $1 Billion a year to productions that choose to film in Georgia. This contrasts with California’s paltry $350m cap on funds available to productions filmed in California.

We believe that the only way to protect Los Angeles’ legacy as the hub of American culture is to allow California to compete on an even playing field with other states to secure film and television productions. We believe that producers should choose where to shoot based on where the best crews, facilities, infrastructure, weather and locations are. Not on where they can get the biggest kickbacks. While in a perfect world, no state or foreign country would be offering cash prizes for productions willing to flee from Hollywood, we don’t have control over what other states and countries choose to do. We can only choose how we respond.

We are responding by demanding our representatives defend the history, culture and economic prosperity of California by matching Georgia’s film tax incentive program. California’s GDP is just a hair under $4 trillion vs Georgia’s $600b. There is no question that California can afford to level the playing field for film workers in the state.