If you watched CNN Tuesday night for guidance on how California’s new governor would solve Hollywood’s production crisis, you might as well have changed the channel: The Lakers had more answers than the candidates on stage. They beat 18.
The state’s third and final gubernatorial debate before the June 2 primary saw the issue — affecting the largest industry in the state’s most populous city — attract little air time. Moderators asked only two of the seven candidates what they would do about bleeding production jobs, and neither gave a particularly substantive answer.
“It’s a competition we can and must win,” Katie Porter said generally, without addressing whether she would push to repeal the current $750 million production tax credit, which she has not yet done.
“This election is an existential election for Hollywood. So yes, we need an unlimited, uncapped tax credit,” said Antonio Villaraigosa, which is something he has said before, and it should not just go to “camera operators and make-up artists” — but it is also strange to point out in the same answer that “the jobs behind the camera are more important than the people in front of it,” and he also gets 2%.
Republican Steve Hilton, the front-runner who said that, was left out of the question THR Last week he would have considered a massive 60% tax break; Xavier Becerra, the front-runner whose opinions Hollywood pros are keen to know; And Tom Steyer, who closely supports both men and who has also said he would raise the cap but has not yet said whether it would be limited to below-the-line jobs. Unions tend to favor such an allocation, although proponents of an above-the-line listing say it would incentivize producers to shoot in the state to begin with.
Instead, in the midst of ostensible debates over housing and health care, the two candidates bickered — over Porter’s temperament, over whether they knew immigration law, and over whether Republican Chad Bianco had ever used the word “fraud” in his life (he said no, then yes). How can the crisis, which has cost about 50,000 jobs, be stopped despite up to $750 million in annual tax incentives on production? Less explored.
The discussion took place four weeks before the primaries that will determine which two of the G7 members will advance to the general election. A split between one Republican and one Democrat would almost certainly hand the governorship to a Democrat. On the other hand, the progress of Hilton and Bianco will ensure that California will have its first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger 16 years ago.
More time was spent deciding which celebrity candidates to choose to play in the biopic. Antonio Banderas received two votes (Becerra and Villaraigosa); Name verified Clint Eastwood (Bianco, Riverside County Sheriff); Gregory Peck got the OG (Steyer) shoutout, we assume To Kill a Mockingbirdno million pound note); Tina Fey becomes unwittingly involved (Katie Porter; can she see Catalina from her house?); Jason Statham was the obvious choice for the clean-minded Hilton.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan had perhaps the most surprising answer when he responded after a period of silence: “Russell Crowe in… Gladiator“How so?” We were, to say the least, unamused.
