Prop houses and other Hollywood businesses seek to promote filming in California

Nearly three dozen local film, television and streaming production businesses and associations have launched an advocacy group aimed at improving conditions for filming in the state.

The California Production Coalition, formed this week in Los Angeles, aims to voice the concerns of prop houses, equipment leasing firms and other businesses that serve the film and TV industry, which has been been slow to rebound after the pandemic and strikes last year by actors and writers.

The group, whose members include the Motion Picture Assn. (MPA), Television City Studios and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, also will lobby in support of expanded tax breaks for the industry.

“I joined this coalition to support whatever measures can be taken to ensure that this industry is part of California,” said Kavon Elhami, CEO of Camtec Motion Picture Camera Systems, a 35-year-old business based in Burbank.

“It is absolutely important that these businesses come together to have a voice,” he added.

The group will seek to educate policymakers and the public about the benefits of the state’s film and TV industry as well as support policies and incentives that will reduce red tape and create a more effective environment to film in the state. Rivals such as Georgia, New Mexico and Australia have lured filmmakers with more generous incentives.

The coalition’s first order of business is to get behind Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal, unveiled in October, to more than double the amount of money allocated annually to California’s film and TV tax credit program to $750 million from $330 million.

Between 2015 and 2020, the state’s film tax credit program generated $961.5 million in tax revenue and supported more than 110,000 local jobs, according to a study by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

The idea for the coalition began last summer, when several local businesses and vendors that have long bolstered the industry began talking about ways in which they might organize and voice their concerns.

“This coalition got together to see what we could do to stay in business,” said Pam Elyea, owner of History for Hire, a 40-year-old prop rental company based in North Hollywood.

Elyea said the MPA brought a number of businesses together to talk about increasing the state tax incentives to remain competitive.

“We have the home-court advantage of doing this for 100 years. We have phenomenal resources,” she said.