DEADLINE: California Lawmakers Extend Film & TV Tax Incentives, Establish New Safety Guidelines For Guns & Ammo On Sets; Gov. Newsom Expected To Sign Bill

Since its inception, the program has generated $8.4 billion in qualified wages paid to 1.85 million California workers. The 656 film, television and streaming productions receiving the tax credit since 2009 spent $23.2 billion in California, according to the Entertainment Union Coalition, which is made up of SAG-AFTRA, the Directors Guild, the California IATSE Council, Teamsters Local 399 and Laborers Union Local 724.

“Along with the extension of the California Film and TV Tax Incentive program, significant new diversity provisions and a landmark Safety on Production Pilot Program were included in AB/SB 132,” the coalition said in a statement. “We thank Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins and Speaker Anthony Rendon for their longstanding support; Senator Steve Padilla and Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo for their months of Subcommittee work on this legislation; Assemblymember Luz Rivas and Senator Maria Elena Durazo and the members of the Los Angeles County Delegation for their timely action to keep this highly successful tax incentive program working for our members and our state.

“Finally, we thank Senator Dave Cortese for his unwavering support over the past two years in helping to draft and secure the passage of this unprecedented production safety legislation, which once again puts California in the forefront of workplace safety. Preserving good middle-class jobs that are safe and available to all Californians is something we can all be proud of.”

The state budget agreement, which incorporates Cortese’s SB 735, also establishes the nation’s first safety protocols in law for television and film workers. The bipartisan legislation reflects two years of negotiations between studios and labor representatives following the 2021 death of a cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the Rust film set in New Mexico.

“Conversations about this legislation started the week after the tragic loss of a cinematographer,” said Cortese, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment, and Retirement. “Those negotiations have produced the nation’s first and best safety practices for California workers in the state’s vital motion picture industry. The agreement will also boost diversity on film productions and create an industry pipeline for students of color, and it will uplift local economies by helping to keep motion picture productions in California. This agreement establishes best practices statewide that were already in use among Hollywood’s top studios. I commend Governor Newsom, the film studios and unions for their commitment to film safety.”

The bill protects film and TV workers by establishing mandatory guidelines around the use of firearms and ammunition on productions, establishes training requirements and safety standards for prop masters and armorers. It also prohibits the use of live ammunition except in limited circumstances following safety rules and laws.

The bill also creates a five-year safety pilot program requiring any employer who receives a motion picture tax credit to hire an independent safety adviser to conduct preproduction risk assessments and oversee safety practices and procedures in motion picture, TV and streaming productions.

Mike Miller, head of IATSE’s West Coast office, said: “IATSE and its 54,000 members working in California owe the landmark Safety on Productions Pilot Program legislation in AB/SB 132 to Senator Dave Cortese, who for the past two years, has stood by his commitment to work with us to move industry safety protocols from rules on paper to actual enforcement on the ground. Our unique industry faces a myriad of hazardous and potentially hazardous activities that take place daily. Now, starting here in California, with productions that receive the California Film and Television Tax Credit 4.0, IATSE members, and everyone who works on these productions, will know that safety is important, not only to them but to the Governor and legislature as well.”

Said Rebecca Rhine, Western Executive Director of the Directors Guild: “We thank Senator Cortese for his leadership on this transformational legislation that will prioritize safety in our industry and save lives. Now DGA directors and their teams, along with all other cast and crew members, have a skilled and experienced ally and collaborator on production whose sole focus is keeping everyone safe. While this model starts with the film tax incentive in California, we look forward to the day it becomes the standard across the country.”