Gov. Gavin Newsom to Seek to Bolster California Film Industry

Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to announce a proposal on Sunday to bolster the struggling TV and film industry in California, his office said in a statement.

Newsom is due to appear at a studio lot in Los Angeles to make the announcement, along with leaders from the entertainment industry and labor unions. California provides $330 million per year in tax credits to the industry, but that incentive trails behind Georgia, New York and countries like the U.K. and Canada.

The governor is expected to propose an enhancement in the tax credit, which would go through the budget process in the Legislature next year.

Filming in Los Angeles has dropped off dramatically in recent years, according to permit data from FilmLA. Total shoot days in the third quarter of 2024 were 50% lower than the same quarter in 2021, and 36% below the five-year average.

Scripted production ground to a near halt during the actors and writers strikes last year. But the post-strike recovery has stalled and production levels have dropped steadily since the beginning of 2024. Earlier this month, FilmLA called for a “vast expansion” of the film and TV tax credit.

Much of the decline is due to the industrywide contraction, which began before the strikes in 2023 and has continued since, as higher interest rates and weak results in streaming forced a correction.

But industry and political leaders in L.A. have warned that jobs are fleeing to other jurisdictions that offer more generous filming incentives. In California, film and TV productions go through a lengthy application process that examines the job impact of each project. Those who are awarded a credit get either 20% or 25% of their qualified production expenses, which is limited to in-state “below the line” production costs.

In Georgia, the credit is not capped — meaning that productions are essentially guaranteed to receive a 30% rebate on their total costs, including big-ticket “above the…