Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1529095
6 • THE ARTISAN WINTER 2025 In 2022, the film and television production industry supported 2.75 million jobs and generated $242 billion in wages: 1. As we know, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a sudden and dramatic drop in industry production that has had lasting impacts on employment levels across all industries, including film and television production. In addition, film and television production in the United States has been severely impacted by competitive subsidies offered abroad that incentivize production overseas. This growing trend of filming productions intended for initial release in the U.S. outside of the United States, due to attractive foreign subsidies, highlights the opportunity to make U.S. domestic production more competitive through labor-based incentives. More than 100 national, state, or provincial production incentives are currently offered in the global market. 2. These incentives include tax credits, tax shelters, and rebates—all of which play a decisive role in where productions are sited. The highest of these tax incentives are offered in India, Saudi Arabia, and Colombia—each of which offer a 40% tax credit or cash rebate on production costs. Ireland, Romania, and France also offer competitive rebates and are subsequently seeing an increase in production in their countries. Additionally, novel CGI and generative AI technologies have dramatically reduced the need to shoot live and in-person. Companies are encouraged to move their productions overseas to take advantage of more competitive tax incentives. The U.S. has taken several steps to incentivize American film and TV production but has yet to offer a federal tax credit comparable to those offered by other countries that are enjoying an economically beneficial increase in production. In lieu of a federal incentive, several states have implemented their own state-level incentives. California's tax incentive system contributed almost $21.9 billion in economic output from 2015 to 2020, supporting more than 110,000 total jobs in California. 3. Georgia offers a similar tax credit on production expenditures which brought 59,700 jobs and $8.55 billion in economic output to the state in 2022 alone. 4. Other states have followed suit with their own competitive incentives, including Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and New Mexico. In some countries, federal and state or provisional-level incentives can be stacked to further encourage production. Canada and Australia both employ this strategy, offering up to 30% and 40% federal tax credits, respectively, that can be combined with provincial tax credits ranging from 8% to 45%. As a result of these incentives, major blockbuster productions have chosen to shoot in these countries rather than in the U.S., bringing with them all the employment opportunities and investment in local economies that productions bring. 5. In 2023, foreign productions in Canada spent more than $6.8 billion and supported nearly 140,000 direct and related jobs, from catering to construction supplies, accommodations, local rentals, transportation and more. 6. Such economic benefits are more likely to be realized in the U.S. with a similarly competitive domestic incentive structure. This is not a new problem, as shown by a report issued jointly by the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the Directors Guild of America (DGA) showing that the total economic impact of foreign incentive-based films and television production was $10.3 billion in 1998, up more than fivefold since the beginning of the decade. 7. In order for the United States to maintain its standing as a leader in the film and television production industry and spur more American jobs, we must create competitive labor-based incentives for U.S. production, additional statistical data from BLS and BEA that may provide insight into the effect that tax incentives and globalization have had on film production in the United States over the past several decades. Specifically, Schiff is requesting statistics from BLS that show monthly and annual U.S. employment data for the motion picture and video (TV) production industry at the national level as far back as available. This is a huge undertaking, but it's a start and Adam Schiff is leading that charge. It is hard to be the "Motion Picture Capital of the World" when the majority of productions are moving out of town/ state to other countries. We need and must have production come home to Hollywood … our lives and souls depend on it. The lack of work has left many of our members unhappy, angry, and questioning what can they do next. We need to come together in solidarity and work together to bring production back to CALIFORNIA! This is where sisterhood, brotherhood, and kinship must come together to accomplish one common task. We need to help get Gov. Newsom's proposal to increase the tax incentive to its new cap of $750 million. "WELCOME to a New Age of INCLUSION (it's about time), to the New Age of Technology (way overdue), and a New Local 706 MUAHS Guild!" WHAT CAN WE DO? • Be Proactive, change your attitude, laugh, and smile more, enjoy your life and your career, make a new friend, volunteer to help others, learn to network better, meet once a week to have a cup of coffee and a conversation … LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE. • It's never too late to change. Every day we have the opportunity to start again; to start fresh; to "start anew" (to begin again or start over in a new or unique way). "TOGETHER, WE RISE" the theme of the IATSE 69th Quadrennial Convention In Solidarity and Unity ALWAYS, Karen J. Westerfield LOCAL PERSPECTIVE Continued from page 5