By Lisa Richwine
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Hundreds of Hollywood crew members, producers and actors on Sunday urged California legislators to increase tax incentives and enact other measures to encourage more film and TV production in and around Los Angeles.
Advocates gathered at a local sound stage to make their case to reverse the flight of production to other states.
“Make Hollywood Hollywood again,” Joely Fisher, an actor and secretary-treasurer of the SAG-AFTRA actors union, said to cheers.
Costume designers, set builders, musicians, producers and business owners attended the rally. Several wore T-shirts with a quote from “The Wizard of Oz:” “There’s no place like home.”
Workers were hoping for a production rebound in Los Angeles after the 2023 strikes by writers and actors, but the comeback has been slow.
Gavin Newsom, California’s Democratic governor, has proposed boosting the state’s film and TV tax credits to $750 million a year, up from $330 million. Advocates support the expansion but also want other measures including making permitting easier.
“California needs to stop taking Hollywood for granted,” said filmmaker Sarah Adina Smith, an organizer of the “Stay in LA” campaign that has pushed studios to increase their filming in the city.
“If we don’t stop the bleeding, then Los Angeles is at risk of becoming Detroit,” she added. “This is a great, iconic American industry, a home-grown industry, and we’re losing it at an alarming rate.”
Many speakers said Hollywood was filled with middle-class workers, not the wealthy celebrities that are the public face of the industry. They also noted that less production takes a toll on local businesses such as caterers and dry cleaners.
Songa Lee, a violinist who has played on film scores for the last 25 years, said work opportunities on union productions in the area had fallen from roughly 30 a year to fewer than 10.
“Musicians across the globe moved to L.A. because there was always the idea that you could actually have a decent living,” she said. “As soon as the work’s not here, that talent won’t come here anymore, which we’re beginning to see. We’re losing talent.”
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
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