Steve Hilton has been talking with David Ellison, Ted Sarandos and Trump Hollywood ambassador Jon Voight about how to bring production back to California. And the Republican candidate for governor has a big idea: blow past the state’s existing film tax incentives with an uncapped credit that could reach 40 percent, covering everything from stars’ salaries to animation and postproduction.
“We cannot let it collapse,” Hilton tells Elaine Low in a wide-ranging interview about Hollywood’s economic crisis, his conversations with industry power players and why he believes California is driving businesses away. He also calls the state’s now-settled legal challenge to the Paramount-Warner merger a “politically motivated stunt” and defends his campaign’s use of AI-generated political ads — even as he insists he’s on the side of Hollywood’s artists and creators.
But Hilton isn’t the only candidate promising a Hollywood rescue. With Election Day nearing, Matt Hamilton of L.A. Material joins to break down the increasingly bitter Los Angeles mayoral race between Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, the lingering Spencer Pratt effect, and Democrat Xavier Becerra’s proposal to force streamers to reveal more of their closely guarded viewing data. The question for an industry desperate for help: Who’s offering an actual plan — and who’s just campaigning?
Comments
Heh.
It’s already over.
It’s cute that politicians think they can save anything, when government just grows debt.
For every $1 in “tax credits” that Hollywood steals from taxpayers in 2026, you’re creating $100s of dollars in future debt (and interest) that will never get paid off.
You are all bad, bad, bad people. I hope history remembers.
What’s Xavier Becerra’s plan? What’s he doing?
Only Ankler All Access subscribers can comment
Already a subscriber?