California signs new tax credit to bring post-production jobs home
California will now pay productions to finish their films and shows in the state, even if the cameras rolled somewhere else.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2319 into law on Friday, 18 September, according to Deadline. The Motion Picture Editors Guild, which co-sponsored the bill, welcomed the signing.
AB 2319 creates a standalone tax credit for post-production, the finishing stage after shooting ends. That covers picture editorial, sound, music, visual effects and finishing, and it expands California's film and television tax credit programme, Deadline reported.
The idea is simple. A production can shoot outside California and still claim the credit if it brings the edit, mix and effects work back to California. The rate would allow a 35% to 50% credit on qualified post-production spending in the state, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Guild supporters say the structure was modelled on a long-standing programme in New York.
Guild National Executive Director Scott George called the signing "a historic day for Editors Guild members and for California's film and TV workers more broadly," according to Deadline. The Guild co-sponsored the measure with the California Post Alliance. Guild president F. Hudson Miller leads the organisation representing editors and other post-production workers.
The bill passed the California Assembly and Senate with broad, bipartisan support at the end of the legislative session, Deadline reported. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had advocated for the measure. Newsom also signed AB 186, which exempts certain productions from caps on tax credits.
Initial funding of $10 million will start the post-production programme, according to Deadline. It sits alongside the state's main production incentive, Film and Television Tax Credit Program 4.0, which provides $750 million to encourage filming in California. That main programme was more than doubled in an expansion marked by the governor on 2 July 2025, when the state also announced 16 new projects to film in California, according to the Office of the Governor.
What makes this stand out is the target. Most film credits chase the shoot. This one chases the cutting rooms, dubbing stages and effects houses that keep people working long after the location trucks leave.
