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On the latest episode of Variety‘s “Strictly Business” podcast, Colleen Bell, director of the California State Film Commission, discusses her wins in her role as the Golden State’s film chief and the hurdles that remain
to restore a high volume of TV and film lensing activity in Hollywood’s backyard.
Bell says the past few years have been a “seminal moment” for the entertainment industry in California. “People want to shoot their projects here. Public policy needs to evolve to meet the moment,” she says.
The state of California has never been more focused on the needs of Southern California’s creative community, the concentration of highly skilled film and TV production that has been the nucleus of the industry for more than 100 years. Bell is aware of the debate around whether the state’s recent efforts to sweeten its production tax incentive program is coming as too little too late amid the sharp downturn in lensing activity in Los Angeles County.
But there’s no debate that the state on her watch boosted its annual incentive program to $750 million, from $330 million. It became law a year ago this month after a great deal of public policy diplomacy and coalition-building by Bell and others in the Newsom administration in Sacramento.
One big change in the local political climate that has helped the industry is the fact that legislators in Sacramento from well outside Hollywood now recognize the value of investing in production tax credits. Bell’s commission has produced research demonstrating that every dollar granted in a production tax credit spurs $24.40 in economic activity from producers, spending that has a clear ripple effect across local communities.
With more understanding of the value of TV and film production, legislators have become more supportive of tax credits to support the entertainment industry.
“There is a much stronger understanding of the utility of tax credits and that they are an investment. And when we invest in the industry, the industry invests back in us,” says Bell, who was named the state’s film chief in May 2019.
“But we continue to try to expand opportunity. We provide uplifts, for shooting outside the Thirty Mile Zone. And that’s been helpful,” she says. “We have had strong bipartisan support for launching this new, updated and modernized program. And that came from a lot of conversations and an understanding that this is our legacy industry and tax credit programs like ours — these are jobs programs. These are keeping talented people who work in the entertainment industry, working here in California where they should be working. I think the conversation has shifted dramatically. I’m really pleased that we were able to shift that narrative.”
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