California expands film incentive with new post-production tax credit

California governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation expanding the state’s film and television tax credit programme and creating a new standalone incentive for post-production work, in a move designed to bring more entertainment jobs back to the state.

The new measure, Assembly Bill 2319, establishes California’s first dedicated tax credit for post-production, covering picture editing, sound, music, visual effects and finishing. Crucially for international productions, projects will be able to access the incentive even if they do not shoot in California, creating a potential new draw for productions that film elsewhere but could bring their post work to the state.

The legislation follows California’s major expansion of its Film and Television Tax Credit Program last year, which more than doubled annual funding from $330m to $750m and broadened eligibility to include more television and animated productions.

Newsom said the latest legislation would reinforce California’s position as an entertainment production centre. “California is the nation’s entertainment capital,” he insists. “We have the talent. We have the infrastructure. We have the creative community. And we have an ecosystem that simply cannot be replicated anywhere else.”

The post-production incentive comes as California seeks to retain work that has increasingly moved to other US…