Just one week ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a five-year extension of California’s $330 million-per-year Film and TV Tax Credit Program.
But now State Treasurer Fiona Ma, who previously pushed to extend the tax credits, is threatening that those credits could go away if studios don’t make headway toward resolving the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Ma, who is a SAG-AFTRA member, told KNX News’ Charles Feldman that the economic impact of Hollywood’s shutdown is an issue for the entire state.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are out of jobs, not only actors and writers, but now ancillary, right, the small businesses, the hotels, the caterers, and all the people that depend on this industry as well are now also not making money,” she said. “How are they going to pay their rent? How are they going to pay their mortgage and their car payments? I mean, it’s gonna trickle down very, very soon to a bigger pool.”
Ma says pulling back the film tax credits would take “a little political will,” but she believes members of the state assembly and senate would get behind the idea.
“We’re facing a deficit this year, so the state could use the money and reallocate it for other purposes,” she said. “But filming has been and continues to be one of our mainstays in California, and we want everyone to come back to the table so we can all continue to get back to work.”
Ma announced her displeasure about the breakdowns in contract negotiations at a California Public Employees' Retirement System hearing on Monday. CalPERS, a pension fund for public employees, has $6.7 billion invested in six big Hollywood studios, Ma says.
“I’m sure [CalPERS] board members are starting to understand the economic impact and the power of our purse, right? We need to put our money where our mouth is,” she said. “We want to work with those partners that are working with us that want to see the state of California grow, not bring the state down.”
The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has refused to return to the bargaining table with the Writers Guild since they went on strike in May. A studio executive told Deadline last week that they plan to drag out the strike until writers “start losing their apartments and losing their houses.”
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok
Related
Related
