Teamsters Local 399 Steve Dayan, Secretary-Treasurer 

I’m happy to announce that our Motion Picture Film & Television Tax Incentive Program has officially been renewed and extended through 2025! 

Today is a day that that we have worked extremely hard toward over the past year in conjunction with the Entertainment Union Coalition (read Entertainment Union Coalition Press Release here). I want to thank each and everyone of our Members that took them time to share their stories and show the much needed support for the extension of this program. There is not doubt about it — it has successfully revived our Industry here in California and it has kept our Members at home with their loved ones.  In 2014 when we worked to pass the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program 2.0, we told the Legislature it would bring production back and it would turn around the lack of work our Members faced. Now, four years later, more than 45,000 of our collective Members — working Californians– have been re-employed or employed thanks to Program 2.0, with $ 2.3 billion in wages paid to below-the-line workers since its inception.

We thank Governor Brown for signing SB 871. We thank the bill’s authors, Majority Leader Ian Calderon and Senator Holly Mitchell for standing steadfastly with us from the beginning and getting us where we are today.

We thank Pro Tem Atkins and Speaker Rendon for helping ensure this program was part of the 2018 California budget. I also want to thank Teamsters Joint Council 42 President, Randy Cammack, Art Pulaski and the California State Federation of Labor, Rusty Hicks and the L.A. Federation of Labor. Special thanks to Local 399 Vice President and Business Agent Ed Duffy and the entire Entertainment Union Coalition comprised of: California IATSE Council (CIC), Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 399, LiUNA Local 724, and SAG AFTRA for getting the extension granted now.

By communicating to our legislators how the Motion Picture Industry operates, Program 2.0 was renewed prior to its expiration so that we could keep productions coming back to California. Our Members now know that productions will continue to shoot here and that they will be able to earn a living and stay with their families long into the future. 

When working people stand together, we win.

More information about the extended Film & Tax Incentive program will be found in our July 2018 Newsreel.