California’s High Costs, Low Incentives Are Scaring Away Film and TV Producers, Report Says

The state has become uncompetitive, a Milken Institute study found. The institute recommended increasing tax credits for producers.
California’s High Costs, Low Incentives Are Scaring Away Film and TV Producers, Report Says
A pedestrian crosses a street with the Hollywood sign in the background in Los Angeles on Oct. 7, 2021. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Jill McLaughlin
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Low incentives and complicated state regulations, combined with high housing and business costs, have rendered California unable to keep Hollywood from moving production to other states and countries, according to an entertainment industry report released on May 27 by the Milken Institute, a California-based think tank.

Hollywood’s in-state production has dropped in the past two years as other states and international destinations continue to increase industry incentives, according to the report’s authors, Kevin Klowden, executive director for the Milken Institute Finance, and Madeleine Waddoups, a graduate teaching assistant in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California–Los Angeles.

Jill McLaughlin
Jill McLaughlin
Author
Jill McLaughlin is an award-winning journalist covering politics, environment, and statewide issues. She has been a reporter and editor for newspapers in Oregon, Nevada, and New Mexico. Jill was born in Yosemite National Park and enjoys the majestic outdoors, traveling, golfing, and hiking.