Citing a disastrous downturn in jobs and income, Hollywood post-production workers have formed a coalition, the California Post Alliance (CAPA), to promote greater tax incentives in the California legislature.
At a kickoff rally attended by more than 200 at Burbank’s Evergreen recording studios Wednesday night, CAPA officials announced that California Assemblyman Nick Schultz would soon introduce legislation in the State Assembly for a standalone post-production tax credit to help lure the work back to L.A.
In a statement to Variety Thursday morning, Schultz said: “Post production is an important part of our state’s creative arts economy. Proposing new legislation that focuses on post production builds on the work that we started last year expanding the film and television tax credit program.
“We are competing with other states and foreign countries for post production jobs, which is causing unprecedented threats to our workforce and to future generations of entertainment industry workers. In my district, we have seen many jobs leave and post production operations significantly scale back operations in the last decade.
“This legislation will aim to provide incentives for VFX, editing, scoring, and more to preserve its infrastructure in California and provide a level-playing field for professionals in the entertainment industry.
“Last year, I was one of the co-authors to AB 1138, which was just the first step to keep the entertainment industry strong and thriving in California. This new legislation will ensure that California remains the global hub of film and television jobs.”
CAPA officials cited statistics showing that more than 4,400 jobs in post have been lost over the past 15 years, costing the state more than $500 million in income and, counting the ripple effects to other businesses, a loss to the state economy of more than $1.6 billion.
“Post production is leaving California,” economist Adam Fowler said, and “the window is narrowing” to retrieve the work. The goal, CAPA president Marielle Abaunza said, is to “reclaim and retain the work we have lost.”
Especially hurt during the past decades has been the music recording business, veteran music contractor Peter Rotter said, with a growing number of film and TV scores — once routinely recorded in L.A. — going abroad to London, Vienna and Eastern Europe. “This is killing our community. The whole ecosystem is bleeding out; we are on life support,” he said.
American Federation of Musicians Local 47 membership has declined by 37 percent since 2008, in “a dramatic and accelerating geographic shift away from Los Angeles,” according to one especially startling slide screened during the presentation.
Officials cited attractive tax credits in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, Pennsylvania and other states as key reasons for a production exodus, and surprisingly generous incentives overseas (the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia) for post-production services including editing, scoring, visual effects, sound mixing and other crafts.
Post-production expenses can currently qualify if production happens in California, but there are no incentives for post-production alone, which has resulted in job erosion and a talent drain as professionals move to other states to seek work.
Fourth-quarter 2025 numbers showed that production spending in California was down 22 percent but that New York production spending was up 23 percent. An estimated 1,800 post-production jobs have been lost in California, “work that moved to other states with more competitive incentives,” Fowler reported.
“CAPA is about keeping jobs and the need to level the playing field,” Oscar-winning sound editor Karen Baker Landers said.
“We have forfeited hundreds of millions of dollars because California has not invested in our industry,” added post-production accountant Jennifer Freed. “Without a competitive post incentive, we are removed from contention and we risk becoming a footnote in Hollywood history.”
The new organization has enlisted former state Assemblyman Alberto Torrico as a lobbyist for the cause, and Wednesday night launched a fundraising campaign with a $500,000 goal to support the effort.
“We’re not looking for charity, we’re looking for parity,” said CAPA board member Ben Urquhart.
English (US) ·