VETERAN PRODUCER HURD URGES BOOST IN CALIFORNIA TAX INCENTIVES

Producer Gale Anne Hurd, whose credits include The Terminator, The Hulk and Aliens as well as AMC’s hit drama The Walking Dead, is urging the California legislature to expand state tax credits to compete more effectively against other states that offer them. Saying that she has not filmed a movie or TV show in California since 2003, Hurd told the Los Angeles Times. “As much as I would like to sleep in my own bed at night and employ many of the incredibly talented California-based crew members, I have filmed instead in Georgia, Toronto and Detroit and many other [places] with much higher [tax] incentives.” Hurd also complained of the restrictions on the California tax credits that are currently in place. For example, she said, “You have to apply by June 1 and even if you are awarded the credit you have to start rolling your cameras 180 days after you’re notified [of an approval]. But if your cast member isn’t available until January or February, then it doesn’t work.” She also urged that the annual tax-credit fund be raised from $100 million to $200 million a year and noted that New York’s is $420 a year. “When you think about the number of people working in the industry, there are far more people based in California than in New York, but New York right now has more than four times the incentive.”