California announces new plan to boost film industry

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LOS ANGELES, May 14 (Xinhua) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday announced a new measure to attract productions to the Golden State by adding 30 million U.S. dollars to its film and television tax incentive program.

As part of the 100-billion-dollar "California Roars Back" plan, this move would boost the existing 330 million dollars tax credit program by nearly 10 percent, allowing the state to dole out a total of 360 million dollars annually to qualify film and television projects.

This new plan was applauded by the entertainment industry immediately. According to Los Angeles City's Economic and Workforce Department, this industry brought more than 30 billion dollars annually to California and supported more than 200,000 local jobs before the COVID-19 pandemic.

California Film Commission Executive Director Colleen Bell told the Hollywood Reporter, a leading entertainment news website, that thanks to the state's current film incentive program introduced in 2014, the state had welcomed nearly two dozen relocating television series from other regions since then.

"Governor Newsom's announcement to expand the film and TV tax credit program is great news for California," said Bell. "The additional 30 million dollars in funding will be allocated to relocating TV series, which bring long-term, high-wage jobs and significant production spending to our state. To date, our tax credit program has welcomed 23 relocating series from other states and countries. The additional funding will enable us to grow that positive impact."

Moreover, Newsom said this measure was designed to show the state's political gesture against those states who passed voter suppression legislation, like Georgia.

"This is an opportunity for those productions, TV and others, in places like Georgia, whose values don't necessarily always align with the production crews to consider coming back to the state of California," Newsom said at a press conference in Sacramento, capital city of the state, adding "that's what that 30 million dollars intends to do."

In recent days, Newsom announced a number of high-dollar initiatives, including an additional 12 billion dollars for homeless housing, 2 billion dollars to combat wildfires, and 95 million dollars for tourism. Enditem

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