BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 1941 Hearing Date: June 13,
2016
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|Author: |Lopez |
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|Version: |June 6, 2016 Amended |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Nicole Billington |
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Subject: California Film Commission: membership and duties
SUMMARY: Requires the Governor to appoint an independent filmmaker and
an independent commercial producer as two of her or his
appointees to the California Film Commission (Commission).
Requires the Commission to post information relating to
independent film productions on its website.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic
Development (GO-Biz) to serve as the lead state entity for
economic strategy and marketing of California on issues
relating to business development, private sector investment,
and economic growth. (Government Code (GC) §§ 12096 -
12098.5)
2)Establishes the Commission to encourage motion picture and
television filming in California and make recommendations to
the Legislature, the Governor, and GO-Biz to improve the
position of the state's motion picture industry in the
national and world markets. (GC §§ 14998 - 14999.55)
3)Requires Commission membership to conform to a number of
requirements including, but not limited to, the following:
(GC § 14998.2)
a) Commission shall consist of 26 members. The Governor
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shall appoint
13 members; the Senate Committee on Rules shall appoint four
members; the Speaker of the Assembly shall appoint four
members; and five members shall be ex-officio.
b) Members of the Commission appointed by the Governor may
include representatives of state and local government,
motion picture development companies, employee and
professional organizations composed of persons employed in
the motion picture industry, and other appropriate members
of this or related industries.
c) Six of the 13 members appointed by the Governor shall be
as follows:
i) One shall be a person who is a member or employee of
a union or guild of motion picture artists.
ii) One shall be a person who is a member or employee of
a union or guild representing motion picture craftsmen,
technicians, or photographers.
iii) Two shall be from major motion picture studios.
iv) One shall be a member of the city council or a
member of the county board of supervisors of a city or a
county with a population of at least two million people.
v) One shall be a member of the city council or a
member of the county board of supervisors of a city or a
county with a population of less than two million people.
d) One of the members appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules shall, and another one may, be a Senator. One of the
members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly shall, and
another one may, be a Member of the Assembly.
e) The five ex-officio members shall include: the Director
of Transportation, the Director of Parks and Recreation,
the Commissioner of the California Highway Patrol, the
State Fire Marshal, and the Director of the CFC.
f) All members of the Commission, except Legislators
appointed either by the Senate Committee on Rules or by the
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Speaker of the Assembly, shall serve at the pleasure of the
appointing authority for a term of two years from the
effective date of the appointment. Legislators appointed
by the Senate Committee on Rules or by the Speaker of the
Assembly shall be appointed for four year terms. Whenever
a Legislator vacates an office, the appointing power shall
appoint another person for a new full term.
g) Of the Legislators appointed to the Commission, no more
than three Legislators from the same political party may be
appointed to or serve on the Commission at the same time.
This bill:
1) Requires another appointment to the Commission by the
Governor to be an independent filmmaker, where an independent
filmmaker is a producer of a film that meets all of the
following criteria:
a) Has a running time of at least 75 minutes.
b) Is intended for commercial distribution to a motion
picture theater, directly to the home video market,
directly to television, or through the Internet.
c) Is produced by a company that is not publicly traded and
publicly traded companies do not own, directly or
indirectly, more than 25 percent of the producing company.
2) Requires another appointment to the Commission by the
Governor to be an independent commercial producer or employee
of a trade association representing independent commercial
producers, where an independent commercial producer meets all
of the following criteria:
a) Is a producer who owns or is employed by a company that
is principally engaged in the physical or digital
production of advertising content for advertisers.
b) Has control over the selection of production location,
deployment, or management of the production equipment and
directly employs the production crew as the person that has
control over the hiring and firing of the crew for a
commercial production.
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c) The company shall not be wholly or partly owned or
operated by an advertising agency or an advertiser or be
publicly traded and shall not produce any production to
which the recordkeeping requirements of Section 2257 of
Title 18 of the United States Code apply.
3) Requires the Commission to create a navigational link on its
website labeled "Independent Films" that includes information
explaining the qualified motion picture tax credits available
to independent films, outlining the application process, and
highlighting that the Commission is required to allocate five
percent of the aggregate amount of credits to independent
films.
FISCAL
EFFECT: According to an analysis by the Assembly Appropriations
Committee dated April 27, 2016, any costs to the Commission
resulting from this measure would be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose. The Sponsor of this bill is Groat Family
Productions . According to the Author, independent filmmakers
have smaller budgets and face many unique challenges during
the film production process including logistics of
production, smaller crew sizes, less recognizable talent, and
longer timeframes to complete production. The greatest
challenges, according to the Author, arise with funding and
distribution of a project. Due to these challenges, the
Author writes, independent filmmakers "bring with them a
special set of learned skills and experiences." In
2012-2013, California produced 177 independent films, which
is the greatest number of any state. New York produced the
next greatest number with 96 independent productions. The
Author argues, "At such a high number of productions, we
should ensure that the unique needs of independent filmmakers
are heard [?] so that California can remain first in the
United States in producing independent films. [?] Since more
independent film productions are made [each] year than large
studio productions, it is critical that an independent
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filmmaker be added to the [Commission]."
2. Independent Film Production. An independent film is any
motion picture produced with a majority of funds from sources
other than the six major Hollywood studios. Independent
films range from small alternative films to big-budget
features such as The Hunger Games and Million Dollar Baby.
Since 1980, Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
members have produced and distributed more than half of the
films that have won the "Best Picture" Academy Award
including: Braveheart, No Country for Old Men, and Slumdog
Millionaire. According to IFTA, the major Hollywood studios
are increasingly reducing the number of films they produce
in-house and are relying more on independents to deliver
completed pictures to feed their domestic distribution
pipelines. The major studios have gradually become more
marketing and distribution specialists in the U.S.
marketplace than production entities.
3. Prior Related Legislation. AB 1839 (Gatto and Bocanegra,
Chapter 413, Statutes of 2014) extended, for five years, the
requirement that the California Film Commission (CFC)
annually allocates tax credits to qualified motion pictures,
as specified, continuing through the 2021-22 fiscal year.
AB 2026 (Fuentes, Chapter 841, Statutes of 2012) extended the
film production tax credit program for two years, until 2017.
AB 29 (John A. Pérez, Chapter 475, Statutes of 2011)
establishes GO-Biz within the Governor's Office for the
purpose of serving as the lead entity for economic strategy
and marketing of California on issues relating to business
development, private sector investment and economic growth.
AB 1069 (Fuentes, Chapter 731, Statutes of 2011) extended the
film production tax credit program for one year, until 2015.
ABX3 15 (Krekorian, Chapter 10, Statutes of the 2009-10 Third
Extraordinary Session) established a five year, $500 million
tax credit for qualified expenditures on qualified
productions and limited allocations to $100 million per year.
AB 1277 (Cohn, Chapter 662, Statutes of 2003) transferred
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administrative authority over the Commission to the Business,
Transportation & Housing Agency and created the Film
California First Fund, administered by the Commission, which
provided for reimbursements to local governments for their
costs in issuing permits for local filming of motion
pictures.
AB 2410 (Frommer, Chapter 1042, Statutes of 2002) required
the Commission to report annually the number of motion
picture starts that occurred within California and required
Employment Development Department to research and maintain
data on film industry employment to determine the economic
impact of the film industry, monitor film industry employment
and activity in competing states and countries, and examine
the ethnic diversity and representation of minorities in the
entertainment industry.
AB 484 (Kuehl, Chapter 699, Statutes of 1999) created the
Film California First program, housed at the California Film
Commission to reimburse certain film costs incurred by a
qualified production company when filming on public property.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
None on file as of June 7, 2016.
Opposition:
None on file as of June 7, 2016.
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