Ben Affleck says California needs to do more to keep Hollywood in Hollywood

Ben Affleck weighed in on what can be done to stem the tide of film and television productions moving away from California.

Speaking on the red carpet at “The Accountant 2” premiere this week, he said the state’s film and TV tax incentive program was not sufficiently appealing to keep Hollywood in Hollywood.

“Other places will have better exchange rates or tax rebate deals that are meant to lure this industry there because they understand how stimulative it is for the economies,” Affleck told The Associated Press.

“I think part of the problem with California is they came to take this industry for granted a little bit.”

FilmLA found that overall shoot days in Greater Los Angeles fell by more than a fifth in the first three months of the year. The film and television sector’s annual production declined by 58% between 2021 and 2024, per the not-for-profit.

The Los Angeles wildfires in January will have contributed to the decline in shooting days as multiple TV and film productions were paused.

California officials have taken steps to stem the tide of directors, executives, and studios ditching the Golden State for other jurisdictions that offer more favorable tax rebates. In October, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed more than doubling support from $330 million to about $750 million for the 2025-26 financial year.

However, Affleck argued that “the percentage of what you get back in terms of the actual budget doesn’t compete with places like England, which is why you see a lot of these big, huge movies shoot in the UK.”

Affleck, who is also a producer, writer, and director as well as an actor, listed several other states that he said offered “better exchange rates or tax rebate deals,” such as Georgia and New Mexico, which both have no annual cap on their incentives programs.

Despite this, “The Accountant” sequel, which was directed by Gavin O’Connor, was partially shot in Los Angeles, per The Hollywood Reporter. Affleck’s upcoming Netflix project “Animals” was also filmed on location in LA.

Affleck acknowledged that tax rebate programs were “controversial,” but said they had helped lure productions away from California.

Creative workers chasing their Hollywood dreams have also prompted some to relocate to other entertainment hubs.

As Business Insider previously reported, close to 820,000 people left California between 2021 and 2022 — the most of any state in that period.

On this, Affleck said: “If people move away, you know, that really hurts the industry. It’s really the technicians and the crew that make or break your movie. You need the best people, you need good people. As a director, I know that to be true.”

Affleck’s comments follow similar sentiments shared by Mel Gibson after he was named one of President Donald Trump’s “special envoys” representing the interests of Hollywood.

In January Gibson told Fox News he wanted to “fix” the problem of Californians ditching the Golden State, referring to both residents and those working in the entertainment industry.

People “are going somewhere else because it’s more cost-effective. There’s just a lot of prohibitive regulations and things in the way that I think could be lifted,” he said. “But I think it can be fixed.”

Gibson said that on one occasion, it had been cheaper for him to fly a crew to Europe and shoot for three days than it was to “shoot for one day just down the road.”

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