While California has thus far failed to pass production incentives to help the state keep and attract filming business spanning features, TV, commercials and branded content, several legislators have not given up on that quest. Among the core supporters for an incentives package are members of the State Assembly Select Committee on the Preservation of California Entertainment Industry.
Chairing the Select Committee is Assemblyman Paul Krekorian (D-Burbank). Committee members are Assembly Majority Leader Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles), and Assemblymembers Cameron Smyth (R-Santa Clarita), Sam Blakeslee (R-San Luis Obispo), Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles), Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach), Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Anthony Portantino (D-Pasadena).
In June, the committee played a key role in the Assembly’s passage of a film grant program designed to combat runaway production. However, that measure appears to have since fallen by the wayside.
Still the Select Committee is looking to renew support for incentives to help level the playing field for California as compared to the many other states that have such programs–tax rebates and the like–in place.
The Select Committee is holding its first public hearing on Monday, Sept. 17, bringing in experts to discuss such topics as the entertainment industry’s contributions to California’s overall economy and job creation, the adverse impacts that production incentives offered by other jurisdictions have had on California employment and state revenues in recent years, and the major challenges California faces in maintaining, if not boosting entertainment jobs and infrastructure.
The public hearing will take place at the IATSE Local 80 office in Burbank, from 1 to 4 p.m. Plans also call for a second public hearing to be held in San Francisco a month or so later. Additional hearings will also likely be scheduled in 2008.
Based on the input and feedback generated by these public hearings, the Select Committee intends to develop a range of policy options designed to stimulate filmmaking in California.
To help muster public involvement and support, the Select Committee has launched a website, www.assembly.ca.gov/entertainment. Krekorian described the site as a vehicle for Californians to learn more about issues that impact the industry. “Literally millions of Californians are dependent on the entertainment industry for their livelihoods,” he said. “I hope they will use this website as a tool to learn more about the challenges we face in keeping the industry here in California, and also to voice their views about how vitally important the success of this industry is to our state.”
Indeed competition is fierce for the business. “So many other states and countries are working overtime to lure this industry away from us because they know it produces tremendous economic benefits and revenues with good middle class jobs,” stated Krekorian. “The charter of my committee is to fight hard to keep those jobs here, keep California competitive and make sure that the state is a great partner for this industry.”
Assemblymember Portantino cited the wide impact that production has on the broader economy of the state. “From the food actors and crews eat, to the hotels and support businesses that help a production’s needs, the survival of filmed entertainment in California is central to our chances of having a healthy economy.”
Denzel Washington, Michael J. Fox and Bono Among Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipients
In the East Room of the White House on a particularly frigid Saturday afternoon, President Joe Biden bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 of the most famous names in politics, sports, entertainment, civil rights, LGBTQ+ advocacy and science.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aroused a standing ovation from the crowd as she received her medal. Clinton was accompanied to the event by her husband former President Bill Clinton, daughter Chelsea Clinton and grandchildren. Democratic philanthropist George Soros and actor-director Denzel Washington were also awarded the nation's highest civilian honor in a White House ceremony.
"For the final time as president I have the honor bestowing the Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor, on a group of extraordinary, truly extraordinary people, who gave their sacred effort, their sacred effort, to shape the culture and the cause of America," Biden said in his opening remarks.
"Let me just say to each of you, thank you, thank you, thank you for all you've done to help this country," Biden said Saturday.
Four medals were awarded posthumously. They went to George W. Romney, who served as both a Michigan governor and secretary of housing and urban development; former Attorney General and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy; Ash Carter, a former secretary of defense; and Fannie Lou Hamer, who founded the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party and laid the groundwork for the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Kennedy is father to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for health and human services secretary. Biden said, "Bobby is one of my true political heroes. I love and I miss him dearly."
Romney is the father of former Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney, one of... Read More