Focus: The Film Incentive Program

For years, I’ve been in conversation with local Oakland filmmakers including Rafael Casal to Boots Riley about what it would take to have a thriving film industry in Oakland. Much of these conversations, as well as quantifiable research, has culminated in a film rebate program for local Oakland filmmakers.

I shared this policy update in my last newsletter; since then, the legislation has passed with a few additions that came from community suggestions that include supporting worker-owned cooperatives and productions as small as $50K!

All the updates are integrated below and this information is also available on Instagram.

What Is The Film Rebate Program?

The film rebate program will give film productions a 10% reimbursement on any items or services they purchase or rent in Oakland, as well as on the wages of Oakland residents who are hired by them, so long as the film production provides Oakland residents with film skills and training.

There will also be an additional 2.5% rebate if productions spend on worker-owned cooperatives, hire Oakland residents living in our five highest unemployment zip codes, and/or spend on businesses in those same high unemployment zip codes.
These incentives are commitments to just economic development. They will encourage supporting our less resourced communities, by directly addressing employment disparities and requiring professional training and development.

In addition, cooperative practice has a long history of creating economic prosperity for the disenfranchised. Coops are owned and democratically governed by their members, provide wages and benefits above industry average, develop leadership and management skills, and build collective wealth for low to moderate income community members.

What Kinds Of Productions Will We See?

In developing this film incentive program, a study was conducted by Olsberg SPI which found the incentive could be a vital source of funding for smaller projects that allows them to stay in Oakland. For larger projects, the proposed incentive may not have a huge impact on their budget, but the research suggests it would nonetheless put Oakland on the map within the industry and give local producers (or potentially a fully resourced film commission) something they can market to decision-makers at major production houses. 

In response to community feedback, 10% of funds will be available specifically for productions with budgets as low as $50k-$250k, intended to support documentarians and local artists.

As such, the rebate program is intended to target small to mid-size productions, while being competitive to larger productions that may have strong creative reasons to film in Oakland. It is also meant to support independent projects led by emerging local filmmaking talent that would struggle to come to fruition without the incentive. It would not aim to make Oakland the most cost-competitive location in the US or globally, but would make a difference for a select group of potential projects.
The film rebate program will be first launched as a pilot in order to evaluate its impact and make any needed adjustments based on the lessons learned.

What Have Film Incentive Programs Looked Like In Other Places?

In the study, film incentives used by other municipalities were reviewed, this included San Francisco and Sacramento in California, as well as several large programs outside of California in New Orleans, New Mexico, the Cherokee Nation and many others. 

All incentive programs aim to attract expenditure by film and television productions which, in the absence of an incentive, may have been undertaken elsewhere or not at all. Any incentive program has to find some way to measure the expenditure it generates and the broad economic impact of the expenditure, and the study highlighted that there is debate as to the best measures for assessing incentive (and the validity of assessing broad economic impact). The study shared a few different angles from a few programs:

• In New Mexico, an evaluation showed that for 92% of productions taking place in the state, the incentive was the most important factor identified by decision-makers when choosing where to produce the film and television projects and only 8% of total productions would have taken place in New Mexico without the state’s tax credit.

• In Illinois, an evaluation found an overall economic Return on Investment of 6.81, meaning that for every $1 invested through the program, $6.81 is generated in terms of additional economic value from direct, indirect, and induced effects.

How Will It Support Small Businesses?

All of this additional expenditure is an opportunity for small businesses to rise up and meet the needs of these productions. Below is a chart that was shared in the study of the different industries that were required by one production. From catering to construction, there are many corners where current and new small businesses may find new revenue streams.

The additional 2.5% for worker cooperatives and hiring vendors in low-employment zip codes are specifically meant to support the emergence of a local small business sector in those areas.

How Will It Support Oakland’s Workers & Local Economy?

The Bay Area Video Coalition also conducted a study reviewing film incentive programs and their findings included that not only did these programs lead to new business and services popping up to address the needs of the new industry, but they also led to youth and many others receiving an opportunity to develop professional skills they could use their whole lives. 

“The Cherokee Nation Film Office mentioned that their increasing involvement in workforce development initiatives was an effort to train up their own people and send them out to productions, with the goal of creating an environment where they can stay and film there.” - BAVC

The study shares how even in locations with ample production activities, workforce development programs were needed to ensure that the productions hire local talent, further generating positive economic impact. They heard that often the local talent pool was not able to meet the need for the largest productions that came to town. In order to fill this gap, many film offices became directly involved in funding and administering training programs. Partnerships were leveraged with a myriad of organizational partners including local nonprofits, unions, community colleges, and universities. 

“In Denver and New Orleans, the film offices are focused on working with youth to generate a robust career pipeline for emerging media makers to skill up and find jobs locally over their careers.” - BAVC

LOOKING FORWARD

I have no doubt that as we begin to see improvements in Oakland, from thriving small businesses and skilled youth, we will also see an increase in the financial, private market interests that I’ve been outlining in my newsletters. As we build these policies, as a community we have to be looking into how we capture these economic gains in forms of community ownership, from community land trusts to worker-owned cooperatives, because it is from these approaches that we ultimately arrive at more stable housing and dignified workplaces. 

As mentioned, I will be sharing more about these strategies in part three of my newsletter series, but I want to share here that there is a reason I am working on this film incentive program alongside policies such as the Oakland Housing Accelerator Fund. There are ways that economic growth can be shared by all and not just a few, and that requires setting up the right systems and structures that lead to increased community ownership.