Film Workers to Rally Sunday in Support of Doubling California Tax Incentive: ‘There’s Been No Work’

variety.com:

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Some 1,500 film and TV workers are set to rally this weekend in Los Angeles in support of restoring lost production jobs, as the industry continues to struggle with a content slowdown.

Union and business leaders are pushing for legislation to more than double the California production tax incentive, and to open up the program to a wider range of projects, including sitcoms and animation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom originally proposed raising the incentive from $330 million to $750 million in October, but the bill must still pass through a Legislature that is facing competing priorities. “We want to keep the pressure on all of our politicians to make sure they see this through to the end,” said Wes Bailey, CEO of SirReel Studio Services, which is hosting the rally on Sunday afternoon in Sun Valley.

California is not alone in seeing a significant drop in production jobs. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, none of the nation’s three largest production centers — California, New York and Georgia — has fully recovered from the decline that began even before the 2023 strikes.