Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/756468
95 Q4 2016 / CINEMONTAGE percent after a decade. Democrats in Congress have tried four times to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would enact penalties for pay discrimination, but Republicans have consistently blocked these efforts. President Barack Obama is now doing what he can to close the wage gap without the help of Congress. He signed an executive order in January calling for businesses with 100 or more employees to report their pay data, broken down by race and gender, to the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Also, the White House Equal Pay Pledge — which more than 50 companies have signed — challenges private sector employers to reduce the national gender wage gap. Pinterest, PepsiCo, Amazon, Airbnb, Spotify and 24 other businesses have already signed the pledge. Obama applauded these companies for leading by example. "We should encourage more businesses to join them," he said. SUMMER 2016 BOX OFFICE THIRD-BEST EVER The 2016 summer slump in box office grosses is a misnomer as North American ticket sales for the season finished among the strongest ever, writes Meriah Doty in The San Francisco Chronicle. The final tally shows $4.483 billion in box office grosses, according to comScore. That's just a fraction less than last year, which came in at $4.484 billion, and was the second-highest grossing summer of all time. Summer for the box office begins the first Friday in May and runs through Labor Day. Why did so many people think the summer box office was down? Some blame it on the lackluster performances of certain high-profile titles, according to National Association of Theatre Owners vice president of communications Patrick Corcoran. "The press likes to declare winners and losers, but the health of the industry is not dependent on a few titles," he told The Wrap. FILM & TV UNIONS TOUT 'MADE IN HOLLYWOOD HONORS' City officials, guild members, TV actors and union reps gathered in early September across from the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood to celebrate Emmy-nominated television shows that were produced in California, writes Tobias Burns in The Hollywood Reporter. While the producers of hits like The Simpsons, All the Way and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story were given commemorative "Made in Hollywood" certificates to display in their executive suites, the real star of the show was the two-year-old, $330 million tax credit program that makes shooting in California significantly cheaper for studios and independent producers. Six major television shows have returned to the Los Angeles area because of the incentive program, including Veep from Maryland and American Horror Story from Louisiana, according to the California Film Commission. The Commission also credits the program for $1.7 billion in direct in-state spending for fiscal 2016, and $600 million in below-the-line wages for production and post-production workers. A recent survey by THR shows that 35 states now offer some sort of tax incentive for film and television companies. That's in addition to over 30 international destinations in Eastern and Western Europe, Asia and Oceana, and the Americas — including Canada — that offer incentives. "Made in Hollywood Honors" began in 2011 and was sponsored by Los Angeles City Council District 13's Mitch O'Farrell, SAG-AFTRA, the California Film Commission, Teamsters Local 399 and the Producers Guild of America, among other organizations. "We feel good, old-fashioned proud," Emmy- nominated producer of Girl Meets World Matthew Nelson told THR. "It's good to do it here. And I really like my commute." McDONALD'S TAX AVOIDANCE SCRUTINIZED An international trade union coalition, representing 32 million workers, has expressed its support for European governments to beef up their investigation into McDonald's corporate structure that allowed it to post a cumulative revenue of LABOR MAT TERS A "Made in Hollywood Honors" event earlier this year brought out several industry notables to acknowledge California's motion picture tax subsidies: Susan Sprung, left, PGA; Paul Audley, FilmL.A.; Ilyanne Morden Kichaven, SAG-AFTRA; Kevin James, City of Los Angeles; Amy Lemisch, California Film Commission; Steve Dayan, Teamsters Local 399; Jane Austin, SAG-AFTRA; Esai Morales, SAG- AFTRA; Kim Roberts Hedgpeth, Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund; Councilman Mitch O'Farrell; and Senator Art Torres of Klein Financial. Photo by Riley Jamison/1600 Vine.