BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1941|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1941
Author: Lopez (D), et al.
Amended: 6/6/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/13/16
AYES: Hill, Bates, Block, Gaines, Galgiani, Hernandez,
Jackson, Mendoza, Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT: California Film Commission: membership and duties
SOURCE: Groat Family Productions
DIGEST: This bill 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). This bill requires the Commission to post
information relating to independent film productions on its Web
site.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic
Development (GO-Biz) to serve as the lead state entity for
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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
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
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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 Commission.
f) All members of the Commission, except Legislators
appointed either by the Senate Committee on Rules or by the
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
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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
Web site 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.
Background
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 filmmaker be added to the [Commission]."
An independent film is any motion picture produced with a
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/28/16)
Groat Family Productions (source)
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/28/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 78-0, 5/12/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Calderon,
Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson,
Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder,
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Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina,
Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen,
Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago,
Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber,
Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Burke, Jones-Sawyer
Prepared by:Nicole Billington / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
6/29/16 15:50:43
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