The Tax Incentive Race Tightens
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s major expansion of the state’s Film & TV Tax Credit Program — which increased the annual pool from $330 million to $750 million starting this year — is expected to provide some relief in 2025. The broadened categories and enhanced credit structures were designed to halt the long-term drift of productions toward more competitive incentive states like Georgia, New Mexico, New Jersey and New York.
“Ultimately, this study reveals little that California’s creative community does not already understand on a personal level,” said FilmLA spokesperson Philip Sokoloski. “There are far fewer film projects being made in Los Angeles than there were in the recent past. Expanded options for attracting and retaining film jobs… are a critical form of protection for working families.”
FilmLA President Paul Audley, who recently announced his retirement after 17 years, echoed that sentiment, saying the new incentive structure offers “early signs of a reprieve” even as the current numbers reflect an industry still regaining its footing.
A Global Retrenchment — But L.A. Still Sets the Benchmark
While Vancouver (British Columbia), New York, Ontario, and New Jersey all saw declines in 2024, the U.K. was the only major market to post measurable growth — a trend driven by high-budget series activity and major franchise work.
Yet despite Los Angeles’ drop in absolute production, its relative dominance remains firmly intact. No other market comes close to its mix of talent density, infrastructure footprint, and historic ecosystem — even with global competition intensifying and producers increasingly chasing the most flexible incentive dollars.
The industry may be contracting, recalibrating, and diversifying its geography — but L.A. is still the gravitational center of English-language scripted entertainment.
Whether the newly expanded tax credit can reverse the multi-year decline remains the question that will define the next phase of the production economy.
