By India McCarty
New legislature expanding California’s movie and TV tax credit program has just been passed — but how many jobs will it really create?
“It will definitely bring jobs back,” Alex Aguilar, business manager of Laborers Local 724, told Variety. He has championed the program’s expansion but admitted, “I don’t know that it will be the way it was before.”
The bills, SB630 and AB1138, “would expand the definition of a qualified motion picture, allowing additional projects to apply for the tax-credit program, including series with episodes averaging 20 minutes or more, animation films, series, shorts and large-scale competition shows,” according to Deadline.
California Senate Approves Film & TV Tax Credits Bill https://t.co/ejahSnqPTr
— Deadline (@DEADLINE) June 3, 2025
The California Film Commission estimated that boosting the program to $750 million would lead to a 40-50% increase in “direct employment,” which would mean around 4,400 to 5,500 jobs. However, this is just a drop in the bucket compared to the number of jobs Hollywood unions estimated have been lost since 2022 — 17,000.
“We know we’re facing Depression-era levels of job losses,” said Rick Chavez Zbur, an L.A. assemblyman who has supported increasing the tax credit. “This is not a panacea. But it will stem the steep slide in jobs, and bring some of the jobs back.”
However, some doubt that the expanded credit program will have the intended effect. The California Legislative Analyst’s Office said there is “no compelling evidence” that movie and TV tax credits significantly improve the state economy, per The Economic Times.
Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, told Variety the California Film Commission is “likely overstating” its projected impact, adding, “I think the industry has a problem. It isn’t that California is too expensive.”
Related: Will California Double It’s Entertainment Tax Credits
The legislature’s supporters recognize that these bills aren’t perfect but maintain that a little help is better than none at all.
“While more resources would result in more jobs, we recognize the challenges of the moment and competing priorities,” Rebecca Rhine, the president of the Entertainment Union Coalition and an official at the Directors Guild of America, said. “But action is necessary now and we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
Greg Bartlett, a unit production manager who helped form CA United, agreed, adding, “Even that may not be enough to stem it at this late stage. It’s a little, and it’s late, and it needs to be more. But anything helps.”
Time will tell if California’s expansion of its movie and TV tax credit program will really help, but many in the industry are happy that steps are finally being taken to fight the state’s decline in jobs.
Read Next: Will California’s Film Tax Credit Bill Help ‘Working Families’?
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