California Must Keep Its Stories – and the People Who Make Them

For generations, California has been the place where the world comes to make movies and television. Our state built an unparalleled creative economy – not only on soundstages and backlots, but in the thousands of editing rooms, recording studios, visual-effects houses and other post-production facilities that turn raw footage into the stories audiences ultimately see.

That legacy is now at a crossroads.

That is why the Legislature’s passage of AB 2319 is about more than a tax credit; it is a statement about California’s future.

I introduced AB 2319 because I could not accept watching a foundational part of our creative economy disappear while other states and countries aggressively competed for the work. California’s share of post-production has fallen dramatically – from roughly 53% to 42% – over the past decade or so. The consequences are not abstract: thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity have been lost.

And these are not simply Hollywood acting jobs. They are the editors, sound professionals, composers, visual-effects artists, technicians and countless other skilled workers who make our entertainment industry possible. They are people raising families, buying homes, supporting local businesses and contributing to the tax base of communities across our state.

AB 2319 recognizes something our economic policy too often overlooks: California cannot afford to define the film industry only by where cameras roll.

The work that happens after production is just as essential. Under this legislation, California will establish a standalone incentive for qualifying post-production work, including projects that filmed outside the state or otherwise did not qualify for California’s existing production credit. The goal is straightforward: Bring work back to California and make sure our world-class workforce has the opportunity to do it here.

When I first brought this bill forward, I said plainly that it could not afford to wait another year. Every year we delay means more projects, businesses and talented workers establishing roots somewhere else. I also committed to working with stakeholders to make the legislation as strong as possible. That is exactly what we have done.

The Legislature’s overwhelmingly bipartisan passage of AB 2319 therefore marks an important moment in California’s history. We are not simply responding to a decline; we are choosing to fight for an industry that helped define our state and our identity around the world.

California invented much of the modern entertainment economy. We should not surrender the next chapter of that story to our competitors.

AB 2319 gives us a chance to write that next chapter here – with California workers, California businesses and California communities at the center of it.

The cameras may capture the story. But it is the people behind them who make it possible.

And California is saying: We want them here.

It’s now up to Governor Newsom to sign the bill into law. He has until Sept. 30. Share your thoughts on AB 2319, or any other bill, with the governor at https://www.gov.ca.gov/contact/.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact our district office if you would like to learn more about AB 2319, have questions, or if we can be of assistance. Our phone number is (818) 558-3043 and our email address is Assemblymember.Schultz@Assembly.ca.gov.