{"id":17041,"date":"2026-07-25T19:11:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:11:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17041"},"modified":"2026-07-25T19:11:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T14:11:22","slug":"colleen-bell-on-production-tax-credits-these-are-jobs-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=17041","title":{"rendered":"Colleen Bell on Production Tax Credits: &#8216;These are Jobs Programs&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOn the latest episode of <em>Variety<\/em>\u2018s \u201cStrictly Business\u201d podcast, <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/colleen-bell\/\" id=\"auto-tag_colleen-bell\" data-tag=\"colleen-bell\">Colleen Bell<\/a>, director of the California State Film Commission, discusses her wins in her role as the Golden State\u2019s film chief <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2026\/tv\/features\/hollywoods-exodus-film-tv-production-los-angeles-1236780390\/\">and the hurdles that remain to restore a high volume of TV and film lensing activity in Hollywood\u2019s backyard.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBell says the past few years have been a \u201cseminal moment\u201d for the entertainment industry in California. \u201cPeople want to shoot their projects here. Public policy needs to evolve to meet the moment,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"pmc-protected-embed-2\" class=\"pmc-protected-embed\" width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/strictly-business\/daily-variety-california-film-commissioner-colleen-bell-talks-state-tax-incentive-battles-hollywood-s-future-and-more\/embed?media=audio&amp;size=wide&amp;style=cover\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tThe state of California has never been more focused on the needs of Southern California\u2019s creative community, the concentration of highly skilled film and TV production that has been the nucleus of the industry for more than 100 years. Bell is aware of the debate around whether the state\u2019s recent efforts to sweeten its production tax incentive program is coming as too little too late amid the sharp downturn in lensing activity in Los Angeles County. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tBut there\u2019s no debate that the state on her watch boosted its annual incentive program to $750 million, from $330 million. It became law a year ago this month after a great deal of public policy diplomacy and coalition-building by Bell and others in the Newsom administration in Sacramento.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tOne big change in the local political climate that has helped the industry is the fact that legislators in Sacramento from well outside Hollywood now recognize the value of investing in production tax credits. Bell\u2019s commission has produced research demonstrating that every dollar granted in a production tax credit spurs $24.40 in economic activity from producers, spending that has a clear ripple effect across local communities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\tWith more understanding of the value of TV and film production, legislators have become more supportive of tax credits to support the entertainment industry.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cThere is a much stronger understanding of the utility of tax credits and that they are an investment. And when we invest in the industry, the industry invests back in us,\u201d says Bell, who was named the state\u2019s film chief in May 2019. <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t\u201cBut we continue to try to expand opportunity. We provide uplifts, for shooting outside the Thirty Mile Zone. And that\u2019s been helpful,\u201d she says. \u201cWe have had strong bipartisan support for launching this new, updated and modernized program. And that came from a lot of conversations and an understanding that this is our legacy industry and tax credit programs like ours \u2014 these are jobs programs. These are keeping talented people who work in the entertainment industry, working here in California where they should be working. I think the conversation has shifted dramatically. I\u2019m really pleased that we were able to shift that narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto  lrv-a-font-body-m   \">\n\t<strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/t\/daily-variety\/\">Listen to Daily Variety<\/a><\/em><\/strong><em><strong>\u00a0on\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/269-daily-variety-287806641\/\">iHeartPodcasts<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iheart.com\/podcast\/1119-strictly-business-30950719\/\">Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Variety\u2019s\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCPo1esChL02h3WQo69TiAag\">YouTube Podcast<\/a>\u00a0channel,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/music.amazon.com\/podcasts\/57f4fab9-d055-4e4f-9bbd-a33a01dd6a40\/strictly-business\">Amazon Music<\/a>,\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0gXghvpBqLBXznnxGVsPt5\">Spotify<\/a>\u00a0and other podcast platforms.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the latest episode of Variety\u2018s \u201cStrictly Business\u201d podcast, Colleen Bell, director of the California State Film Commission, discusses her wins in her role as the Golden State\u2019s film chief and the hurdles that remain to restore a high volume of TV and film lensing activity in Hollywood\u2019s backyard. Bell says the past few years&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17042,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1344115127-e1784941248133.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}