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Home > Celestial Blood > ‘Hollywood is not dead.’ Tax credits keep 22 productions in CA
Podcast: Celestial Blood
Episode:

‘Hollywood is not dead.’ Tax credits keep 22 productions in CA
Category: Arts
Duration: 00:00:00
Publish Date: 2025-09-10 19:00:00
Description: Hollywood’s film/TV industry is in a serious slump. Productions shot in LA have dropped by one-third in the past decade. They’ve moved to states with generous tax breaks (New York, Georgia) and overseas (Ireland, Canada, the U.K.). That means California is losing out on revenue, and local actors and crew members are often out of work. And so, this summer, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a law doubling the tax incentive program in California — $750 million per year of tax credits are now available to projects that film locally. The first round of those tax credits was just rolled out to 22 television series, including a new HBO show from Larry David, and Seth Rogen’s The Studio (Apple TV+). Nicole Sperling, New York Times reporter covering Hollywood and the streaming revolution, tells KCRW that entertainment industry workers seem to be considering LA as a filming location, whereas it wasn’t an option in the past. “Runaway production” was driven by the COVID pandemic shutdown, writers’ and actors’ strikes, abatement of streaming wars (which meant making fewer shows), and the January wildfires. How do these new tax credits work? She explains that throughout the year, the application period stays open a week at a time. For those who qualify, the base rate of tax credit has increased to 35%. If you relocate your show to LA, you get an extra 5% credit. One benefit of shooting in California is the huge workforce here, she points out. “You're not flying people out. … You just have a deeper crew base, so you can get people who have a lot more experience than maybe some of these areas that are newer to the film production world.” And with the state doling out tax credits, Sperling says, more jobs are created, and the local economy is bolstered. When a production comes to town, those workers are turning to local restaurants, dry cleaners, and other small businesses. Beyond tax credits, Newsom’s new program is trying to make it less expensive to get permits for certain filming locations. However, big blockbusters still are not shooting in LA, Sperling notes. “I think one thing people would really like is for those tax credits to benefit the above-the-line costs. But when this was being debated up in Sacramento, a lot of the lawmakers were really against looking like they were giving subsidies to actors’ salaries. … They wanted this to be a jobs bill … benefiting the middle class and lower class workers … and not something that was helping to subsidize the $20 million salaries that are earned by some of the actors in these big productions. So I think unless that comes back, which I don't foresee that happening in California, it's going to be hard to lure those really big productions back here.” As for Hollywood workers who’ve already left, is it too little too late? No, Sperling says. “​​Hollywood is not dead. And lots of productions still film here, and people are still coming here to make their dreams come true when it comes to working in the movie business. So it's not dead. It's at a low point. And I think it's not too little too late. … I think an encouraging sign is just the demand of productions that applied for this first tranche of incentives. … Plus, you have a very diverse topography, where you can film beaches … mountains … urban and … suburban. … And you have the mild weather. … There's a reason why Los Angeles has been the filmmaking capital. It has definitely declined in the last few years. But this is at least a step in the right direction.”
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