California Democratic Party passes resolution to broaden state’s film & TV tax incentives to support music employment

In support of local musicians seeking to grow music scoring work in the state, the California Democratic Party’s Executive Board adopted a resolution Aug. 16, 2015 in favor of broadening the Film & TV Tax Incentive Program to support and increase music jobs.

The resolution was put forward by Local 47 member and activist Clifford Tasner, who serves as a delegate to the California Democratic Convention, and 25 DSCC members. It speaks to the merits of AB 1199, a bill aimed at improving the California Film & TV Tax Credit Program to bring more music scoring work to the state.

RESOLUTION 15-05.73L
BRINGING MUSIC JOBS BACK TO CALIFORNIA

Whereas, the State of California has been a magnet for and a source of the world’s finest musical talent, drawn to California by the employment in film and television studios as well as in clubs, theaters and music festivals, and teaching, with a cultural legacy that includes soundtracks for films such as “Wizard of Oz,” “Jaws” and “Frozen”; and

Whereas, thousands of professional musicians, many of whom are union members, contribute to our region’s cultural richness and desirability as a tourist destination for the world, generating good middle-class jobs for working people and a direct economic impact on the community, as music scoring sessions necessitate employing scoring stages, engineers, electricians, food service workers, guards, professional cartage companies, instrument repair professionals among others; and

Whereas, the professional musicians who represent such a great economic, cultural and educational resource have been savaged by offshoring and runaway scoring, and music scoring tax credits in New York, the United Kingdom and other locations the consequences of which have wreaked havoc on California’s musical labor force, as the December 2014 LAANE report “Keeping the Score” documents, and that while other industry employment has been successfully incentivized by California’s film and TV tax incentives, music jobs have fallen by the wayside.

Therefore, Be it Resolved that the California Democratic Party supports stronger tax incentives to support the music jobs generated by the Film Industry so that film productions will have greater incentive to choose to do their post-production and score their films in California, preserving the existing film music infrastructure which exists; and

Therefore, Be it Further Resolved that the California Democratic Party send a copy of this resolution to the Democratic members of the California Assembly, State Senate and Governor Jerry Brown, urging them to implement this resolution and broaden and make more generous California’s film and television tax incentives to support the music jobs generated by the film industry.

If you’d like to get involved, sign the petition above, and sign up for Local 47 Action Alerts.