California Creates Post-Production Tax Credit — SkimNews
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- Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2319 on Friday, creating a new tax credit covering picture editorial, sound, music, visual effects, and finishing for productions that shoot outside California but bring post-production work to the state.
- Newsom also signed AB 186, which exempts certain productions from tax credit caps and accelerates refunds for independent film.
- AB 2319 received broad bipartisan support in the Assembly and Senate and starts with $10 million in initial funding, co-sponsored by the Editors Guild and California Post Alliance.
- The Motion Picture Editors Guild called the signing "a historic day" and said the bill is needed to counter tax incentives in other states and countries that have lured post-production work away from California.
- AB 2319 complements California's Film and Television Tax Credit Program 4.0, passed last year, which allocated $750 million for in-state filming.
- CAA CEO Bryan Lourd welcomed the legislation but called the $5 million cap "a ceiling on potential" and urged federal production incentives to make the U.S. competitive globally.
Why it matters: Post-production jobs — editing, sound mixing, VFX, finishing — have migrated to states and countries with aggressive tax incentives, and California's $10 million program is the first state-level credit specifically designed to pull that work back, though CAA's Bryan Lourd flagged the $5 million cap as too low to be competitive against layered federal incentives.
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