Gov. Gavin Newsom is rolling out another multimillion-dollar lifeline for Hollywood, this time aimed at keeping editors, visual effects artists and other behind-the-scenes workers from taking their talents out of California.
Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2319 on Friday at the Television Academy in North Hollywood, creating what supporters describe as a first-of-its-kind California tax credit specifically targeting post-production work.
The new program will offer a 35% to 50% credit on qualified California post-production expenses, including picture editing, sound, music, visual effects and finishing.
Unlike California’s existing film and television incentive program, productions won’t necessarily have to shoot in the Golden State to qualify.
Under the current program, post-production costs can be covered if at least 75% of filming or the production’s overall budget is spent in California. The new credit is designed to lure post-production work to the state even when cameras are rolling somewhere else.
“This is a big victory in our fight to save California’s entertainment industry, and we’re just getting started,” said Assemblyman Nick Schultz, a Burbank Democrat who authored the legislation.
“This program will literally save jobs here in Los Angeles and across the state,” Schultz added. “When California competes, we all win.”
But the program is starting considerably smaller than supporters originally envisioned.
Schultz initially sought $100 million for the post-production credit, an amount also backed by the Motion Picture Editors Guild. Lawmakers ultimately settled on just $10 million, one-tenth of the original proposal.
The incentive comes as California loses some of its grip on the post-production industry amid competition from other states and countries dangling their own tax breaks.
California’s share of US post-production employment has plunged from 53% to 42% over the past 13 years, according to CVL Economics data cited by the Los Angeles Times. The economic consulting firm, which is tied to the California Post Alliance, said the state had about 12,000 post-production jobs last year.
For workers caught in Hollywood’s employment crunch, the downturn has hit particularly hard.
Culver City resident Ben Urquhart, 51, told the Times he spent 18 years as a post-production executive at NBCUniversal before being laid off. Two and a half years later, he said he still hasn’t found another job.
“It’s grim and it’s hard. There are jobs, but we have a large amount of extremely qualified people competing for every level of job,” Urquhart said.
Urquhart recalled that when he worked as a production assistant in the 1990s, finding a job could take only a couple of weeks.
The state recently increased its Film and Television Tax Credit Program from $330 million to $750 million annually, with the increased funding authorized through June 30, 2030.
Urquhart said the new incentive could help California compete with jurisdictions already offering post-production credits and “level the playing field.”
The legislation comes as Sacramento dramatically expands its broader effort to keep Hollywood productions in California.
“California is the nation’s entertainment capital,” Newsom said in a statement. “It is the home of storytellers, dreamers, artists, entrepreneurs, and creators who define culture for the rest of the world.”
Newsom’s office said 170 projects announced since the expansion of the incentive program are expected to generate more than $6.6 billion in economic activity and nearly 35,000 cast and crew jobs statewide.
Newsom also signed Senate Bill 186, which makes changes to the existing incentive program, including enhanced refundability and relief for certain independent productions from a temporary limitation on tax credits beginning in 2027.
The push to lure entertainment jobs is also reaching Washington. President Donald Trump has publicly supported the idea of a federal film tax credit, while Reps. Laura Friedman, D-Calif., and Brian Jack, R-Ga., are leading a bipartisan effort to draft one, according to the Times.
Newsom capped off Friday’s Hollywood push with a visit to the Burbank set of HBO Max’s “The Pitt,” as California tries to keep more of Hollywood’s work in the Golden State.
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