The serious jobs loss never even slowed down California’s incredibly corrupt politicians. Thankfully there’s no Berlin style Wall yet, to prevent the flight. Hardest hit by California’s pirate politicians is the film and entertainment industry. As the excessive taxes and other obstacles have impacted this once thriving industry production began running away.
Canada was first to offer a haven for filmmakers through tax breaks and subsidies. That nation learned very quickly that they get much more in return when they host a film production. California’s politicians are clearly too corrupt and stupid to learn from this. More and more once valuable office space is vacant even in prestige locations like inside Paramount Studios. Why stay in L.A. to make films?
I have a friend in L.A. that made a film at her home, driveway and front sidewalk. There were no security requirements, obstructed traffic or anything going on that concerned the city. Still they forced her to pay nearly $1,000.00 for a film permit and they made her pay for expensive liability insurance. It was like watching a police SWAT team dealing with a kid’s lemonade stand.
Now Europe and India has been rapidly taking over making great films. India protects their citizens with a nearly absolute embargo against foreign workers. Germany provides very generous subsidies along with great locations for filmmakers.
Filmmaking is seeing unprecedented democratization because of technology changes that make filming an editing so much easier an inexpensive. Hollywood has been forced to compete with millions of filmmakers using YouTube and other social media sites.
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