California Lawmakers Weigh Lifting the $750M Film Credit Cap
Summary
At a North Hollywood hearing, a Grey's Anatomy spinoff that lost out on the credit and moved to Albuquerque became the case in point.
An Assembly committee met Thursday in North Hollywood to discuss removing the $750 million annual cap on California's film and TV production incentive, Variety reported. Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who chairs the Select Committee on Growing and Retaining the Creative Economy, said he will try to raise or eliminate the cap next session but called it "a heavy lift." He floated "dynamic scoring" to count the credit's economic return rather than its headline cost. Assemblymember Nick Schultz proposed extending the program's 2030 sunset and covering above-the-line costs such as actor and director salaries.
Producer Betsy Beers testified that a Grey's Anatomy spinoff missed the credit on its jobs-ratio score and is now filming in Albuquerque; when ABC reapplied, the program was oversubscribed. Arlen Valdivia of the Motion Picture Association said the state is still not competitive or predictable enough, and Lindsay Dougherty of the Hollywood Teamsters warned against assuming a federal incentive would bring work home. FilmLA reported that Los Angeles production volume keeps falling.
The Legislative Analyst's Office pushed back. Its analyst Rowan Isaaks cited research finding that film credits return 20 to 50 cents per dollar and warned that a richer credit could end up funding fewer projects. California more than doubled the program last year, from $330 million to $750 million, while Georgia's credit has no cap, Variety noted.
