by A.J. Catoline
Editors Guild leadership traveled to Sacramento to lobby California lawmakers for a post-production tax incentive Tuesday, as a crucial bill cleared its first procedural hurdle.
Led by President F. Hudson Miller and National Executive Director Scott George, a Local 700 delegation presented more than 1,300 letters from union members urging lawmakers to act. The post-production industry has been hit hard by economic challenges driven by studio cutbacks, media consolidation and competitive incentives in other countries.
“We lost over 6% of our California membership in a single year,” Miller told the committee before it voted on AB2319, which would establish a standalone post-production tax incentive. “These aren’t just numbers to us. These are hundreds of dedicated artists and craftspeople who are no longer confident they can support themselves and their families doing the work they love.”
The California Assembly’s Arts and Entertainment Committee later passed AB2319 by an 8–0 vote.
Arts & Entertainment Committee Hearing Highlights
(editor – Elisa R. Cohen)
Authored by Nick Schultz (D-CA44-Burbank), the legislation aims to curb the steady migration of post-production work out of California by creating a targeted tax credit for picture and sound editorial, visual effects, and finishing work—regardless of where a project is filmed.
The vote follows mounting concern from Editors Guild members and industry professionals that California is losing a critical segment of its post-production workforce to competing jurisdictions offering more flexible incentives.
Miller emphasized the need to amend the bill to include strong protections for labor standards, so that tax dollars go to reputable employers who provide good wages and benefits, requirements that productions under IATSE contracts would inherently meet. “With the help of other stakeholders, we can shape AB2319 into a law that will keep good union jobs,” Miller continued.
“Our members’ collective message is: first amend, and then pass, AB 2319,” he said, stressing the importance of ensuring the incentive supports “middle-class jobs with meaningful healthcare and retirement benefits.”
Miller added a line heard often in cutting rooms and sound stages — “In our business… when something’s not quite right… we say, ‘let’s fix it in post.’ So let’s fix it in post.”
In presenting the bill, Schultz framed AB2319 as a necessary response to intensifying global competition for post-production work.
“Post-production work… is increasingly being performed in other jurisdictions that offer targeted incentives,” Schultz said, pointing to countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. For example, New York established a post-production tax credit in 2004 of up to $45 million annually. This has been a boon to East Coast Local 700 members looking for work.
“California’s share of post-production has fallen from 53 to 42 percent,” Schultz warned. “We’re talking about more than 4,000 jobs lost, $1.63 billion in economic activity lost, and $507 million in wages lost.”
Schultz underscored the urgency of immediate action, framing the issue as both economic and personal.
He also highlighted a broad coalition of lawmakers, union members, post-production facility owners urging passage of the bill. “If there was ever a bipartisan issue… it is addressing affordability. It’s keeping jobs in our state.”
Also testifying in support was Academy Award–winning sound editor Karen Baker Landers, representing the California Post Alliance.
Landers described the often-overlooked role of post-production in filmmaking and the growing pressure on workers to leave the state for jobs. She warned that without a standalone incentive, California risks losing not just jobs, but its creative infrastructure.
“Because we currently don’t have a post-only incentive, California is becoming less-and-less of a viable option,” Landers testified, noting that workers are increasingly forced to travel out of state or abroad.
While the committee’s unanimous vote signals strong support, lawmakers and stakeholders alike acknowledged that AB2319 remains a work in progress.
How the bill will address labor standards, program funding, and safeguards around emerging technologies—are expected to be addressed in future amendments as the bill moves to the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, in a hearing scheduled April 21.
President Miller stressed that more member outreach to lawmakers will be needed for the next committee hearing. “I would like to thank the 1,400-plus members who reached out to lawmakers by writing letters in the past week; it makes a big difference,” Miller said. His comments echoed the view of Assemblymember Tom Lackey, Vice Chair of the Arts & Entertainment Committee, who said letters and calls from guild members “shows there is engagement … It’s a very important part of the legislative process, to participate.”
Assemblymembers Nick Schultz and Tom Lackey Thank Local 700 Members for Their Support Letters
(Editor – Erik C. Andersen)
Miller added: “While we remain optimistic, we also know that we have a very long way to go” to passage of a satisfactory bill. “I am confident we are going to need our members’ letter-writing skills in both the long and short term.”
HUDSON FOR GOVERNOR !!!
It should also be noted that the California Post Alliance is the sponsor of the bill. It’s a non-profit formed specifically to try to get a post-specific tax incentive bill to Sacramento this year. Letter writing is fantastic, but CAPA needs everyone to join or donate to CAPA to further this work. It costs about $500k to do studies, lobby, PR, etc. These costs are being incurred by CAPA, and they’ve spent 100’s of hours of their free time, unpaid, to try to get a lifeline to post. Join CAPA and make your voices heard!