The Hangover executive producer Scott Budnick was in the parking lot outside San Quentin prison when he spoke to California Gov. Gavin Newsom about the dire state of film production in the region — especially compared to states like New York and Georgia, which offered strong tax incentives to film and television projects to lure them away from California.
“He was blown away,” Budnick tells me. “He was like, ‘We’re going to do something.’ Weeks later, he let me know that they were going to more than double the credit from $330 million to $750 million.”
But just increasing the amount of money wasn’t enough — to stay competitive with other states, California needed to raise the credit from 20 percent of qualified expenses to 40 percent.
“It wasn’t just a dollar amount. We had to change the entire mechanics of the credit, and it became a massive campaign,” says Budnick, 54. “I went to Sacramento probably 25 times on this bill and this budget, and every time I went, I was surrounded by grips and electricians.”
The tax credit has historically been burdened with an optics problem, he adds, as people thought it supported huge Hollywood stars or billion-dollar tech companies.
“We needed to make it about the young and older grips and electricians and set dressers and costumers and hair and makeup folks and vendors, etc.,” Budnick says. “I was surrounded by real union workers who had crazy stories about what the business was and what it is now — their lives, their children and everything else. We testified in front of the Senate, in front of the Assembly and all types of committees, and ended up getting it to the finish line. Now, I think it’s made a real difference.”
But the work isn’t done: The next step, he tells me, is an uncapped credit, something Georgia and other states offer, and a model supported by Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman.
“If we had an uncapped credit — the proof is in the data. The amount of jobs that are created, the amount of economic activity, the amount of lumber that’s used, the hotels needed — everything ends up paying for itself,” Budnick says.
It might seem odd that a film producer had such a handle on what it takes to make elected officials understand real issues, but it’s something with which Budnick is uniquely familiar.
After growing up in Atlanta and graduating from Emory University in 1999, Budnick began his career as a casting assistant on Todd Phillips’ 2000 comedy, Road Trip. When Phillips wrote 2003’s Old School, Budnick gave the filmmaker notes. Their collaboration exploded from there — with Budnick receiving his first producer credit (as an associate producer) on Phillips’ Starsky & Hutch, and later serving as executive vice president of Phillips’ production company, Green Hat Films. The company’s first project was 2009’s The Hangover, which cost $30 million and grossed $469 million worldwide, making it then the highest-grossing R-rated comedy ever. (The movie and its two sequels have grossed a combined $1.4 billion worldwide.)
It was around the time of Old School when a friend brought Budnick to a local juvenile hall, where he connected with incarcerated youth. That experience led to his career in activism — including founding the Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC) in 2012, which Due Date star Robert Downey Jr. helped name, and later launching 1Community, an entertainment production and co-finance company that uses the power of storytelling to drive real-world impact. Among the films Budnick’s company has released in recent years are the Michael B. Jordan drama Just Mercy and Netflix’s hit comedy Nonnas with Old School star Vince Vaughn. Future projects include a boxing drama with Gina Rodriguez, Porto Rico with Bad Bunny and Edward Norton and the upcoming My Darling California with Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Don Cheadle and Jessica Chastain. That project was originally going to shoot in the Canary Islands, but this week, Budnick got the California film credit. “Now, we’re shooting it in Los Angeles.”
Best of all, Budnick remains optimistic about the state of the business — shocking, I know — because he’s seen firsthand how an individual can affect change.
“I’m not saying that there are things that aren’t wrong; there are a lot of things that are wrong in this business. But there are a lot of things that we can correct with the right strategy,” he says, citing his work to help pass multiple criminal justice reform bills through ARC. “If we were able to make this much progress in believing in second chances for young people — and getting young people who have committed crimes and changed their lives into the film business — then what’s passing a film tax credit?”
I don’t say this lightly: My all-too-brief conversation with Budnick was enlightening and uplifting. He even answered my pressing question about the possibility of a fourth movie in The Hangover franchise (he didn’t say no!) and why R-rated comedies might be back sooner than you think (he’s got first-hand intel from Paramount on that front). It was a great edition of Rushfield Lunch, and I hope you’ll enjoy watching as much as I did doing it.
