A Victory for Production in California

When production stays local, everybody benefits—from writers, directors, cast, and crew, all the way out to the businesses that support the industry.

Guild elected leader and members of the WGAW Political Action Committee (PAC) applauded Governor Gavin Newsom’s increase of the California Film and Television Jobs Program (CFTJP) in early July—more than doubling the program’s annual funding from $330 million to $750 million. Combined with accompanying legislation—AB1138 and SB630—that modernizes the program and increases the base tax credit to 35 percent, the state expects the CFTJP increase to substantially boost local production, leading to thousands more jobs for everyone from crew to writers and directors and a boost to local businesses.

A coalition of Hollywood unions celebrate Governor Gavin Newsom’s increase of the California Film and Television Jobs Program (CFTJP).

On the first season of the HBO Max series The Pitt, for example, production employed more than 1,000 people on the crew, and more than 350 people had full time jobs for more than half the year, according to Pitt executive producer and WGAW member Simran Baidwan.

The medical drama, which is set in Pittsburgh but films in Burbank, is one of 16 TV series that will receive funds from the program. Collectively, those 16 series are expected to generate 6,700 cast and crew jobs and bring in $1.1 billion in spending, according to data supplied by the Governor’s office.

“When we talk about the people we’re employing, that includes people from the WGA, DGA, SAG-AFTRA, and more than 16 IATSE local unions,” said Baidwan, who also serves on the WGAW PAC board, “and that doesn’t even go into other businesses. We’re talking about dry cleaners, baristas, grocery stores…so many things that were impacted not only by the pandemic but by the recent wildfires. So anything we can do to help infuse money back into the local economy is a win for everybody.”

The Guild has been closely involved in the legislative push to stem runaway production, joining fellow entertainment unions including SAG, IATSE, Teamsters, LIUNA, DGA, and AFM in the Entertainment Union Coalition (EUC). WGAW PAC board member Danny Tolli and WGAW Political Director Shelagh Wagener joined members of the EUC unions in Sacramento in support of the Keep California Rolling campaign, the goal of which was to protect jobs, strengthen the local economy, and preserve California’s status as the global center for film and television.

Tolli, who is also a WGAW Board member, has lobbied legislators both in Los Angeles and Sacramento. The campaign resonated personally with Tolli, who has shot in L.A. only one time during his more than a decade working as a TV writer.

“If you’re a writer on staff, the only way you’re going to move up in your career is getting that necessary production experience,” Tolli said. “If productions are not shooting locally, it’s harder to get writers to set, and you’re not learning the craft of producing and writing toward a budget. As someone who started as a staff writer on an L.A. show and found my writing voice being an on-set producer, that was incredibly vital for me to make the next leap to the next show I was on.” 

Other changes to the incentive program include increasing the production cap from $100 to $120 million and a credit of up to 45% for some expenditures on filming outside the L.A. area. Qualified production will now include half-hour projects, feature and television animation, and large-scale competitions shows. Indies will receive 10% of the larger total pot, increasing from $26 to $75 million and a doubled production cap. The Guild’s advocacy was instrumental to another new provision in the expanded program that allows projects that do not receive the credit in their first year, but that choose to stay and film in California, to apply for the credit a second time, which had previously been prohibited.

As the Executive Producer of The Lincoln Lawyer – an L.A.-set series which films locally even though it does not receive the incentive – WGAW Board member Dailyn Rodriguez and other series personnel also threw their support behind the Keep California Rolling campaign “because we want to support our cast and crew and writers who want to live and work in L.A.”

Baidwan has spent the bulk of her career on series that film in other cities, a circumstance that has forced her to experience family milestones virtually or miss them entirely. Thanks to the tax incentive, for the first time in 15 years, this isn’t the case. 

“You can see it on the set of The Pitt, everybody is thrilled to be working and to be working at home,” said Baidwan. “I get to sleep in my own bed. I get to tuck in my kids. I get to go to my daughter’s basketball game or to my son’s choir rehearsal. There were so many times I lived their upbringing through Facetime and videos, so to be able to do that is priceless.”

Read the Written by story on the WGAW PAC and learn more about the PAC.