Dear Governor Newsom,

My name is Pamala Buzick Kim, and I have dedicated my career to uplifting production talent in the media industry. Over the past four years, we have weathered pandemics, Hollywood strikes, and more. We are resilient but we need to stay competitive. Hardworking individuals who are the backbone of our creative community are facing unprecedented challenges - Loss of wages, savings, insurance, homes, and more.

Between 2019 and 2023 we lost over 30% of commercial production. We need a tax incentive for commercial productions. The world's largest advertisers are in the US, with many of them calling California home. Keep the business here with our extensive advertising production community.

Other States and overseas production offer a 20-25% cost advantage due to attractive tax incentives. This comes at a high price for California production crews who find themselves unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. In addition, the expansion of influencer marketing, with brands sometimes spending up to 80% of their budgets on influencers who often operate as one-person productions, further exacerbates this issue.

Key Issues:

• Economic Impact: The shift to overseas production is leading to job losses and economic instability for local production crews.
• Economic Impact on California Cities: The reduction in local production directly affects the economies of our cities in California, leading to decreased business for local vendors, reduced tax revenues, and overall economic decline in communities that rely heavily on the entertainment industry.

Our Requests:

• Tax Incentives: Implement emergency tax credits and financial incentives for brands that choose to produce their content in California with production budgets of over $150k per day.
• Promote Local Talent: Encourage the use of local talent and crews in advertising and media production to maintain our industry’s integrity and quality.

By signing this petition, you are supporting the livelihoods of thousands of skilled professionals in the entertainment and advertising industries. Let’s work together to keep production in California, preserve our cultural heritage, and strengthen our economy.

Call to Action:

• Sign the petition to support local production jobs.
• Share this petition on social media and with your community to spread the word.

Thank you for your support,

Pamala Buzick Kim
Working Insights (former FREE THE WORK Exec Dir., Maven Label rep, production company staffer, crew member)