"California Aims to Lure Movie Industry Back" (Los Angeles: 2013, credit)

[JimBaker488]

State Rolls Out Red Carpet for Visual-Effects Jobs With Expanded Tax Credits
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LOS ANGELES—California is hoping to conjure some real-life jobs in the smoke-and-mirrors world of visual effects for movies and television shows—part of the state’s latest attempt to win back its most famous industry.

The state recently expanded its tax-incentive program for film and TV productions, offering a larger credit for visual-effects work done in the state and scrapping restrictions that had excluded big-budget movies, which often feature the highest number of whiz-bang effects. Visual-effects artists create special effects and animation and do visual cleanup in “postproduction” work, which can include everything from brightening the lighting of a scene to building whole virtual worlds.
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Most of the visual-effects industry has left California for places such as the U.K., Canada and New Zealand, which began offering specific incentives for postproduction work about 15 years ago. Those countries tend to attract higher-end visual-effects work that require skilled technicians, while more menial, repetitive tasks are often outsourced to countries such as India and Malaysia.
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“When you get into the higher-budget, $100-million-plus features, that really drives the visual-effects work,” said Amy Lemisch, executive director of the California Film Commission, which administers the incentive program.

Among the 25 live-action films with budgets greater than $100 million released in 2013, almost half of the jobs generated went to visual-effects workers, according to Film L.A. Inc., nonprofit that helps coordinate filming permits in the Los Angeles area. On some films, like “Man of Steel,” the share was even higher. Of the 2,215 people who worked on the Superman epic, 1,438 were in visual effects—the largest number of them in New Zealand.

California Aims to Lure Movie Industry Back - WSJ - WSJ

[GatsbyGatz]

We'll see if these tax breaks will compensate for all the other taxes involved with doing business in California...

[LoriBee62]

Lucasfilm and Pixar seem to be doing fine.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

We'll see if these tax breaks will compensate for all the other taxes involved with doing business in California...

Like what? Give us a list of taxes unique to CA and their % cost.

[theraven24]

The movie industry is still a big thing here. It's not like it completely vanished.

[RaymondChandlerLives]

Originally Posted by theraven24

The movie industry is still a big thing here. It's not like it completely vanished.

The increased tax credits will be snapped up in the blink of an eye. The infrastructure for filmmaking is far greater here than anywhere else.

I think it's a good thing too--so much of what makes California a lure for tourists (another gigantic industry) is its status as the film capital of the world.

[theraven24]

Originally Posted by RaymondChandlerLives

The increased tax credits will be snapped up in the blink of an eye. The infrastructure for filmmaking is far greater here than anywhere else.

I think it's a good thing too--so much of what makes California a lure for tourists (another gigantic industry) is its status as the film capital of the world.

Agreed.

[DriveNotCommute]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

We'll see if these tax breaks will compensate for all the other taxes involved with doing business in California...

I second Tulemutt's request.

Although I generally agree with the sentiment, based on inferences from business articles, that California's business atmosphere has a lot of inefficiencies, I realized that I would have trouble naming details.

I'm interested in finding out more, for example are some of these points purely a question of tax rates or are the incorporation fees too high? Is it the bureaucracy, as in the paperwork needed? Are some costs counted due to worker's rights? How many problems are actually caused by city/local bureaucracies and not the state?