California’s fight to keep post-production jobs from leaving the state gained new momentum FridayCalifornia’s Post-Production Industry Rallies Behind New Tax Incentive Bill night as the  officially endorsed Assembly Bill 2319, a proposed post-production tax incentive championed by California Assemblyman Nick Schultz.

The endorsement was announced during a California Post Alliance town hall at Evergreen Studios in Burbank, where roughly 200 editors, composers, visual effects artists, music professionals and post-production workers gathered to rally support for the legislation. The bill would establish a targeted California tax incentive specifically for post-production work, even if a project films outside the state.

“With over 20,000 of its members living across the state of California, the Television Academy endorses this legislation to keep post-production work here where so many of our members live,” a Television Academy spokesperson said in a statement supporting the measure.

The proposed legislation, AB 2319, arrives as California’s entertainment industry continues grappling with shrinking production levels, rising international competition and the steady migration of post-production work to other states and overseas markets. According to statistics presented during the meeting, California has already lost more than 4,400 jobs and approximately $500 million in annual wages tied to post-production activity.

Schultz, whose district includes Burbank, framed the issue as both economic and deeply personal.

“My two next-door neighbors work in post-production,” Schultz said before the meeting. “I have neighbors on my block that haven’t worked in more than a year. At a time when people are having a lot of trouble having any faith in their government, this is a bipartisan issue. This is about keeping people working and doing what they love.”

Under the proposal, productions could qualify for a 35% to 50% tax credit on post-production expenditures completed in California. Unlike the state’s existing California Film Commission incentive program — which recently expanded to $750 million annually for productions physically shooting in-state — AB 2319 would allow projects shot elsewhere to still qualify if post-production work remains in California.

CAPA treasurer Jennifer Freed said the incentive would apply when productions spend at least 75% of their post-production budget in California, or a minimum of $1 million.

“Even if a project didn’t shoot here, let’s finish it here,” Freed told attendees.

Music professionals at the event emphasized the potential impact the bill could have on California’s struggling scoring business, much of which has shifted to cities like London, Prague, Vienna and Bratislava, where competitive tax incentives have made orchestral recording significantly cheaper.

“Anything related to scoring is eligible for the credit,” music contractor Peter Rotter explained, citing musicians’ wages, recording sessions, orchestration, music preparation, mixing, mastering and supervision as qualifying expenses.

“The bill is really our last opportunity to bring back equality and competition with the rest of the world, and the rest of the U.S.,” Rotter said. “California still has the talent, the determination, the artistry and the extraordinary history that made this industry what it is today.”

Dennis Dreith, former president of the Recording Musicians Association, called the measure especially significant because it would represent the first California legislation specifically designed to incentivize music scoring within the state.

“The United Kingdom offers very substantial tax incentives for motion pictures not only to film in the U.K. but to score films there as well,” Dreith noted, pointing to the growing imbalance between constantly booked London scoring stages and increasingly underutilized facilities across Los Angeles, including those at Fox, Sony and Warner Bros.

The legislation has already cleared both the Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports & Tourism Committee and the Revenue & Taxation Committee. Schultz said the next major hurdle is the Appropriations Committee, where lawmakers will determine whether the bill advances to a full Assembly vote.

“I have rated this bill as my number-one priority this year,” Schultz said. “We’re accompanying the bill with a $100 million budget ask to help launch the program.”

Visual effects professionals attending the town hall also raised concerns that portions of the bill may not fully account for the growing amount of VFX work now happening during pre-production, particularly in areas like previs and virtual production planning. Schultz encouraged continued dialogue as the legislation evolves.

Still, the broader message throughout the evening was one of urgency.

“We have the best-trained people in the world,” Schultz said. “We have the human capital that you can’t just export or recreate elsewhere. We should have done this a decade ago.”

He added: “If this bill doesn’t make it this year, you all have my commitment — you can take it to the bank — that I will run this bill next year and every year until we get it done.”