As concerns about runaway production mount while California looks to balance its budget and prepares for potential federal funding cuts, top entertainment unions are pulling out all the stops to support proposed expansions to the states film and TV tax incentives program.

A group of industry labor groups called the Entertainment Union Coalition is traveling to Sacramento on March 4 and 5 to lobby for the California governors proposed boost to film and television tax incentives and two bills set to further bolster the program. As part of that effort, the unions have produced a 22-page pamphlet for lawmakers and created a website encouraging visitors to contact legislators, sign a pledge and post their support for local production on social media. The Keep California Rolling campaign launched on Thursday, a few days before the trip and as details of proposed legislation is still being hashed out. Our goal is jobs in California. Thats what we see diminishing. Thats why we see people suffering, says Entertainment Union Coalition president and Directors Guild of America Western executive director Rebecca Rhine. The real impetus for this is that the tax credit, as it was currently funded, is simply insufficient to maintain the jobs in California.

As it currently stands, the tax credit program capped at $330 million offers a 20 percent base credit for projects that film primarily (at least 75 percent) in California; independent films and relocating TV series are eligible for a 25 percent base credit. Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed more than doubling the programs cap to $750 million, which in the U.S. would lag behind only Georgias incentives in its scope if passed.

Though Newsoms proposal represents the most significant fiscal boost to the program since it began in 2009, advocates have warned that its not enough to lure productions back to the state after a period of corporate consolidation and cost-cutting and as other states offer more competitive incentives.

On Wednesday, a trio of California lawmakers sought to rectify that issue by introducing two bills intended to amplify the governors proposal. But stakeholders including the unions and the studios lobbying group the Motion Picture Association havent yet come to an agreement on the details of how they might work; dates for negotiations have been scheduled for early March, and its unclear if the language will be settled by the time the unions hit the states capital.

The unions are emphasizing in their materials that the tax credit program supports critical middle-class jobs. Hollywoods top labor groups have recently seen a 40 percent decrease in production, according to the pamphlet that will be distributed to lawmakers, while the health plan covering many crew members, the Motion Picture Industry Pension Health Plans, tracked 88 million hours of employment in 2024, compared with 123 million hours in 2022. That translates to 17,000 jobs that have evaporated, the pamphlet claims. Meanwhile, the states existing tax incentive program bolstered nearly 110,000 jobs between 2015 and 2020.

The groups are also highlighting the potential economic boost that an expanded incentives program could offer the state. The initiative funneled $21.9 billion into the states coffers between 2015 and 2020, the unions pamphlet claims. It additionally cites data from the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation finding that every dollar spent on the tax credit generates $24.40 in total economic activity.

You cant talk about anything without doing it in the context of some of the larger headwinds that the state faces in part because of whats happening federally, says Rhine. But we believe this program and our industry strengthens the state [and] that these jobs are more vital than ever in an environment of uncertainty in terms of whats going to happen federally. And the data speaks for itself.

But the unions dont think that California tax incentives alone can stem the tide of runaway production. In the wake of the Eaton and Palisades fires that ravaged L.A., an initiative launched by two writers called #StayinLA urged more productions to shoot locally as part of the recovery efforts. A pledge that has been signed by more than 21,000 people called in part for studios and streamers to commit to producing at least 10 percent more projects in Los Angeles over the next three years.

Rhine agrees that these companies need to make some kind of pledge for production in the state to recover. Part of the solution for this is a commitment from the studios, she says, adding that the union coalition has not engaged with the MPA about the issue yet. At the end of the day, there has to be a commitment from the employers, from the studios, to shoot here. Theres no other way to say it except that we all have to be part of this effort.