Who Can Save Hollywood?

California has fought to stop runaway film and television production for more than four years now with a tax incentive program, but some say it’s not enough. The uphill battle to save California’s $17 billion-a-year industry.

The Walking Dead, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and The Good Wife are among the big-name productions that film outside California.

Justine Zwiebel / BuzzFeed

LOS ANGELES — California has long been the destination for aspiring actors, but these days, you're likely to find entertainment industry hopefuls choosing Atlanta over Hollywood.

"I've met people who went to USC for film, and they're all coming here," actor Josh Waters, who moved to Atlanta last year, told BuzzFeed. "It seems like the same people who took the first train to L.A. are setting up shop in Wilmington (North Carolina) and places around here."

Waters grew up in Georgia but moved to California and began acting professionally in 2001. He booked roles as the "sidekick neighbor" on sitcoms, including playing "keg bro" in an episode of The O.C. in 2003, but as the years went on, the husband and father of two found it harder to find roles.

"Why don't we move to Georgia?" the 35-year-old remembered asking his wife. "There's so much going on there."

They moved in June.

California has been hemorrhaging film and television production for more than a decade now, but state leaders are hoping to stem their losses and woo production back with an expanded tax incentive program.

The migration of production began in the late '90s when Canada began offering incentives to lure studios away. By the early '00s, states like Louisiana began experimenting with their own. Today, there are only six states that don't.

California finally began offering incentives in 2009. "We must do everything in our power to stimulate the economy and put Californians back to work," said Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who signed the legislation, at the time. Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 and Naked Gun 4 were among the first projects to benefit.

"We were sort of later than most states," said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission. "If we want California to be considered a shooting location, we have to have incentives."

California currently offers $100 million in tax incentives annually. It's one of the largest sums offered by a state, but it still lags behind at least other four states, including New York, which has a $420 million annual cap, and Louisiana, which spent $218.4 million in 2012. Massachusetts and Georgia have also outspent California.

According to data of 41 states' annual caps of the most recent annual incentives obtained by BuzzFeed, California's $100 million hovers around 4% of the national total, a drop in the bucket. (Representatives from Florida and Kentucky's film offices did not respond to inquiries from BuzzFeed. A representative from Illinois film office said annual incentive data was not immediately available.)

Her is the only Academy Award nominee for Best Picture filmed in California. Scenes for Joaquin Phoenix's character's Los Angeles high-rise were filmed at the WaterMarke Tower downtown.

Warner Bros. Pictures

More than 250 film and television projects have benefitted from the program, but only one of the 41 big-budget feature films released in the past two years was shot exclusively in California:Star Trek Into Darkness. And among this year's Academy Award nominees for Best Picture, only Her was shot in the state.

"Right now we're getting our lunch handed to us by these other states," Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, a Pacoima, Calif., Democrat who co-sponsored legislation expanding incentives, said in a statement. "We simply can't sit by and watch this $17 billion a year sector of our economy continue to leave California."

The Expanded Film and Television Job Creation Act, introduced Tuesday, would offer a 25% credit for television shows relocating to California in the first year, expand the number of television shows that can apply for tax credits, and extend the state's tax incentive program for five years.

The legislation has the support of at least 59 additional lawmakers who had a hand in authoring it and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who called it a "prudent investment in the future of California's middle class," but proponents know there will be resistance to setting aside more money for Hollywood.

"In Sacramento, nothing is easy," said Assemblyman Mike Gatto, another co-sponsor. "There's a lot of people who are not necessarily on board yet."

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