Skip navigation
Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism University of Southern California
Spotlight

Hollywood May Not Be “Hollywood” For Long

Runaway productions threaten to make Hollywood an abstraction and less about its southern California locale.

Raeshib Aggerwhil has travelled in a gigantic circle to complete his education.

Aggerwhil moved from the Bay Area, to Virginia, to Boston, and finally back to California where he is a student at the University of Southern California. This coming May, Aggerwhil will graduate with a degree in Film Production.

Similar to most students in his field, he will get a job post-graduation and put his hard earned degree to use.

However, where he will work will all depend on where Hollywood film production crews have moved.

Film crews are in search of lower filming taxes both nationally and internationally. Crews continue to leave the state and will continue to do so if budget allocations and an increase film tax incentives do not occur in the near future. 

"It’s pretty expensive to shoot in California if you are in film production. Everything also depends on how big your crew is, but generally places like Alabama and Montana, filming is cheaper. Film crews get more tax breaks in those places because those states want more productions to happen there, it brings money to their economy,” said Aggerwhil. 

Aggerwhil is referring to tax credits or tax incentives for certain businesses, like film production crews in California. Over the past three months, the Los Angeles City Council has reviewed and accepted a proposal from Councilmembers Jan Perry and Bernard Parks that would extend the state’s current tax program and would continue to provide additional incentives to match those being offered in other states like North Carolina and Louisiana. 

Political and Industry Response

Mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel who face a May runoff, are strong advocates for bringing crews back into Hollywood and have both had strong personal connections to industry.

Greuel has even served 10 years on the board of the California Film Commission. The Commission is responsible for administering the film and television tax credit program. It is also involved in all of the legislation and the administration of the credits as well as offering location resources and production assistance. 

“California has faced increased competition from our out-of-state and international regions that have been working actively to lure production. In 2009, California legislature enacted a film and television tax credit program”, said Amy Lemisch, Director of the California Film Commission. 

Since the inception of the program, the Commission has allocated $500 million in tax credits to eligible productions. Those productions are collectively spending $3.9 million in the state, of which  $1.2 million is spent in wages to ‘below the line’ crew, according to Lemisch.

The program has proven quite effective by targeting at-risk productions and crews that are most likely to leave the state. However, despite the current funding allocation, Lemisch says funding is limited, and the demand far exceeds supply. 

Lemisch believes there are a few key things for film crews and Angelenos to remember and to take into account in the effort to bring the crews back to Hollywood:

For all feature film and television production, factor in incentives into the bottom line. The entertainment industry supports about 170,000 jobs in California and spends about $30 billion a year in California. That money provides enormous tax revenue back to the state and local economies.

Actors’ Response

Noel Blanc is a voice actor and the son of voice acting legend Mel Blanc. Following his father’s death, Noel Blanc began to voice some of the same characters voices on Looney Tunes as his father had such as Yosemite Sam and Elmer Fudd. As an actor who has personally seen the in’s and out’s of Hollywood, Blanc says the shift of film crews out of Hollywood doesn’t concern him. 

Bryce Dallas Howard Flickr Creative Commons
Bryce Dallas Howard Flickr Creative Commons

“Hollywood will be okay. Now, is a period when California has to come up with ideas to keep people in the state, and in Hollywood where most of the pictures were made and have been made,” said Blanc. 

He says that the shift of crews out of California will have a heavier impact on the local service industry supporting Hollywood jobs like those in the “Screen Extra’s Guild” as well as electricians, cinematographers, and the trucks involved in will transporting film equipment. 

Bryce Dallas Howard, actress and daughter of actor-director Ron Howard has acted in many blockbuster hits like “The Help”, “Spider-Man 3”, and “The Twilight Saga”. Howard was born in Los Angeles, raised in Connecticut, and eventually moved back to Hollywood. As someone who has seen the film industry both in California and in other states, she, like Blanc, believes the industry shift may not be a bad thing for all involved. 

“I feel like so many of us are from other places and we come here because it is an industry town. What I think is exciting in storytelling history is that people all over the world, have access to the tools that were previously only really available inside of Hollywood,” said Howard. 

Howard recently spoke to USC students at the screening of a short film she directed called When You Find Me.  She believes with increasing advances in technology especially in the “5D Canon” cameras, the Hollywood industry is no longer the same. 

“I think what is happening now with Hollywood is, is that Hollywood is an idea, it is not a location and I love that! I love that it’s no longer necessarily a location because that is so limiting,” said Howard. 

COMMENTS
Leave a comment
Name:
E-mail:*
URL:
Comments:*

We've Moved!


By Sam Bergum
01/21/16 | 11:09 a.m. PST

Visit us at uscannenbergmedia.com!

USC Basketball Knocks Off Rival UCLA 89- 75


By Scott Cook
01/14/16 | 12:05 a.m. PST

USC defeats UCLA with stellar play from their Freshmen. 

Holiday Bowl - USC vs Wisconsin Post-Game Press Conference

Su'a Cravens: "It's the players that need to step up"

Darreus Rogers: "It comes down to the players"

Trojans Fall to Wisconsin in the Holiday Bowl 23-21

We detected that you might be on a mobile device such as an iPad or iPhone. Sorry, at this time the video box is only visible on desktop computers.