The Entertainment Union Coalition has launched “Keep California Rolling,” a labor-led campaign to ensure that jobs remain the key priority in the proposed expansion to California’s Film & Television Tax Credit Program.
The launch of the campaign follows Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent proposal to double the state’s incentive program from $330 million to $750 million annually, a critical move to curb the flight of film and television production out of California.
DGA western executive director and President of the Entertainment Union Coalition Rebecca Rhine is leading a series of calls to action. 100 workers from the EUC’s member unions and guilds – including the American Federation of Musicians, California IATSE Council, Directors Guild of America, LiUNA! Local 724, SAG-AFTRA, Teamsters Local 399, and Writers Guild of America West – will travel to Sacramento next month advocating for a jobs-based incentive program that attracts production back to California and strengthens local and state economies.
Speaking with Variety, Rhine stressed the urgency of the situation calling it “critical.” She said, “We have a historic industry in California, that is really at risk. Sometimes we forget that the future of film and television production in California is not a guarantee.” She added, “Think about the automobile and aerospace industry, those were deeply rooted in communities and that did not stop the erosion and ultimately the departure of those industries.”
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By speaking with the state legislators, Rhine said education was paramount. “It’s explaining why this is different than what they may perceive it is. The second is to make them understand who these jobs are for. These are not Hollywood stars who are making millions of dollars. These are not the high-paid people in our industry – they benefit because they too live here, and they too want to work at home, but the jobs that are credited in this bill are the construction crews, laborers, the 13 IA locals, drivers, location managers, directorial teams and extras.”
Rhine pointed out the 40% drop in production in the state, and the loss of jobs is reason for sounding the alarm before it’s too late. “What we can’t have is this workforce hollowed out and destroyed if we want this industry to thrive in California.”
In advocating for the program, the EUC’s goal is to make sure that jobs are the center of anything that is passed in the expansion of the program.
Rhine hopes to educate legislators on the secondary implications of what this work loss means and the impact it has on small businesses that are ancillary to this industry: the caterers, dry cleaners, event planners and beyond. She said, “It’s about our industry driving tourism to this state which brings in billions of dollars, but at its core, it’s about, how we acknowledge and protect an industry that is so integral to the state’s economy.”
Aside from educating and providing resources, Rhine said the campaign would work to highlight what needs to be done to make the incentive “more competitive, structural changes, administrative changes. We are open to those conversations, and we will have them, but at the end of the day, whatever we agree to has to produce work for real human beings.”
She noted, “It’s essential that the expansion of the Film & TV tax credit program prioritizes workers rather than corporate profits. The EUC fully supports the governor’s proposal, marking the most significant expansion to the program in decades, but we must ensure it delivers on its promise: keeping production, and the jobs it creates, right here in California, where workers and their families can thrive in their own communities.”
The campaign also launched its website to provide resources and mobilize workers across the industry in the fight for jobs. Resources for the California Film & Television Jobs Program Impact Report prepared by the EUC are also available.
Said Rhine, “When our industry thrives, it adds to California thriving.” She added, The unions have all come together in an unprecedented way. We added additional unions recently to the EUC, and everybody is on the same page. This is the first. This is the moment, and we want our members to know that this is what their unions stand for.”