Berman, Dreier Fight to Maintain Film and Television Productions in U.S.

Press Release

Champions of the entertainment community, California Congressmen Howard Berman and David Dreier introduced legislation today encouraging American film and television productions to remain in the U.S. and halt runaway productions.

With foreign countries amending their tax codes and providing generous incentives for film productions to relocate outside of the United States, this legislation aims to reverse this growing and disturbing trend by incentivizing American productions to remain at home.

The legislation provides a two-year tax extension to encourage entertainment production to remain in the United States. The current tax incentive provision, known as Section 181 first passed in the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, was amended in 2008, and later extended through 2011. This legislation would apply to productions after Dec. 31, 2011 through 2013.

"We must make every effort to keep American productions here in the United States," said U.S. Rep. Howard Berman. "Entertainment jobs support middle class families in the San Fernando Valley, throughout Los Angeles, and across the nation, and should not be exported abroad."

"Jobs are our number one priority and this bill will help more people find good jobs in California and across the U.S.," said U.S. Rep. David Dreier. "We need to create an environment that will keep entertainment productions here so that caterers, makeup artists, and other small businesses that support them can create jobs too. This is a common sense bill that deserves bipartisan support."

With production of films and TV programs occurring throughout the United States, this industry creates well-paying jobs and generates tangible economic benefits to cities and states nationwide. A typical motion picture employs 350-500 people. Production jobs have an average salary that is 73% higher than the current nationwide standard. A major motion picture shooting on location contributes $225,000 on average every day to the local economy, so it is no surprise that it is seen as a critical engine of economic development in many places across the country.

Source