California Film Production Incentives Bill in Works

I have been meaning to write about this for some days now, but I’ll admit to having been somewhat distracted by long haul flights and the ensuing jetlag over the last couple of weeks. Still, I hope you won’t hold it against me…

So, here’s the scoop: according to an article published in Variety on January 1, “Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes is developing legislation that would extend California's film production incentive program and plans to introduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session.” That, my friends, is pretty good news to all of us in the LA entertainment industry. It basically means that California would retain the tax credits for film production that were recently extended as a “stop gap measure” until a more permanent decision was made. 

Of course, much of the details still need to be decided upon, and at this stage no one knows how long this will be for, or the exact amount of the tax credits that will be set aside, but it is still a positive move for our industry. 

And if you are still wondering whether or not these tax credits bring any benefits, you should know that according to a report by Los Angeles Economic Development Corp, “the program has generated $3.8 billion in economic activity statewide, created more than 20,000 jobs and more than $200 million in tax revenues”. Not bad, hey?

So, for those of you who are wondering whether or not ours is an industry worth moving into, this surely is a positive bit of news. And if you want to find out more about the sort of careers you can expect in VFX, you can always read our Careers Guide report. In there, you will find lots of useful information about average salaries and growth figures for our industry sector.