CA Postproduction Tax Credit Bill Moves to the Senate

California Assembly bill AB 2319—the postproduction tax credit bill—is headed to the Senate.

“Today, The California Post Alliance proudly celebrates the passage of AB 2319 in the California Assembly,” read a statement from California Post Alliance, the bill’s sponsor, shared with The Creative + Tech Orbit. ”We are grateful to Assemblymember Nick Schultz for his leadership and advocacy on behalf the postproduction community and for recognizing that role our community plays in powering California’s creative economy. We are halfway there and we are looking forward to continuing this momentum as the bill moves to the Senate.”

AB 2319 differs from California’s film tax credit, which requires 75% of principal photography to have been shot in the state of California. Instead, AB 2319 aims to incentivize projects to post in the State, even if they filmed elsewhere or were unable to qualify for the current tax incentive bill. Supporters say they want to “level the playing field” by targeting post business that is not evaporating, but rather being lured out of the Golden State’s struggling postproduction industry.

“Based upon economic modeling of direct, indirect and induced efforts of this eroding postproduction market, the total economic impact to California is astounding,” Assemblymember Nick Schultz, author of the bill, said during an April 6 press conference. “We’re talking about over 4,400 lost jobs, more than $507 million in lost wages, and in terms of total economic output in California, more than $1.63 billion lost annually to other jurisdictions.”