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California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a “landmark” bill that creates the Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund to supply much-needed support grants to small nonprofit performing arts organizations, helping them offset a portion of their payroll costs. Introduced by Senator Anthony Portantino (D – Burbank), Senate Bill 1116 was cosponsored by Actors’ Equity Association and the Theatrical Producers of Southern California.

MinaLima to create the identity, branding, and logo for its proposed physical and virtual museum to celebrate the history of the art form. Still in its early planning stages, the project is led by CEO/founder Eddie Newquist and a board that includes producer and former Dreamworks Animation chief Chris DeFaria, Oscar-winner Chris Buck (Frozen), Disney’s vice president of cinema partnerships David Sieden, Universal Creative senior manager Kerri Balabas, and former Disney exec and co-founder of Iwerks Stan Kinsey.

So the good news is that the half year double strike that ground Hollywood to a halt is over. The bad news is Billy Ray has just about come to the end of the road on Deadline Strike Talk, which to our mind has been superb and a light in the darkness. He will do one more episode or two to wrap up the lessons we hopefully learned from this labor discord, and then we will beg him to keep a podcast presence with Deadline. In sober and intelligent tones, and with a superb roster of guests, he has helped create an understanding of the intricacies, forces and history that went into the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The hope is he, and his initial co-pilot Todd Garner, will want to continue together or separately an inside baseball dialogue with the industry that Deadline serves. That is a conversation for another day. Here, Billy Ray discusses the settlement that puts the industry back to work. And he is joined by California State Senators Anthony Portantino and Dave Min to discuss the role of state government in supporting the labor movement.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The California Senate voted on Thursday to grant unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike. The bill passed with a 27-12 vote. The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have each expressed support for the bill.

A bill that would provide unemployment insurance to striking workers in California passed the state Assembly on Monday and now is headed to the Senate Labor Committee and then to the Senate floor. If passed there, Senate Bill 799 would go to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his signature.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are pushing California lawmakers to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers. In California, workers currently do not receive unemployment pay when they are on strike. But state lawmakers are working on a bill, SB 799, that would extend benefits to workers who have been on strike for at least two weeks.

SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America West are among more than 20 labor organizations lobbying for passage of a bill pending in the California legislature that would make striking workers in the state eligible for unemployment benefits, as they are in New York and New Jersey.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Talks between the Motion Picture Association and the Hollywood labor unions have failed to produce an agreement on a new law that would address firearm safety on movie sets. The two sides backed competing proposals earlier this year in Sacramento in response to the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico last October. Both bills would have established a training standard for film armorers — a job that is currently almost entirely unregulated. The union proposal would have been more sweeping, however, establishing the role of a “set safety supervisor” who would have the power to shut down productions. Both bills stalled in the legislature in May, but the two sides continued to talk in hopes of reaching an agreement before the Aug. 31 legislative deadline.

A California Senate bill extending the $330 million annual film and TV tax credit until 2030 was today placed in the inactive file for this legislative session at the request of its lead author, Senator Anthony Portantino (D- Burbank).

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer A bill to extend California’s film and TV tax incentive program through 2030 has been placed on hold, as lawmakers continue to work on elements of the bill, including a new diversity mandate. The state’s $330 million tax credit for Hollywood is currently set to expire in 2025. Sen. Anthony Portantino has worked on a bill, SB 485, that would add another five years to the program. Last week, a new provision was added requiring that productions that receive a tax credit adopt hiring goals that are “broadly reflective” of the state’s demographics. Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, led the effort to include that provision, which also adds an extra 4% subsidy for projects that meet their diversity targets.

Downtown Los Angeles is going through a transformation and East End Capital is planning on building 16 soundstages in the Arts District. The 720-square-foot development would be close to the infamous 6th Street Bridge.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s promise to sign a bill that would extend the state’s $330 million-a-year film and television production tax credit program until 2030 is receiving high praise from the Entertainment Union Coalition, whose members include SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, the California IATSE Council, Teamsters Local 399 and Laborers International Union of North America Local 724.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterHollywood unions and entertainment studios both support doing something to tighten firearms safety rules in the wake of the “Rust” shooting.But they don’t agree on what that something is, and the disagreement has dimmed the chances of new set safety legislation out of Sacramento this year.On Thursday, Sen. Anthony Portantino held up two bills — SB 829 and SB 831 — that reflected the competing approaches of the studios and the unions.

New rules about how and when actors can use guns while filming failed to pass the California Legislature on Thursday just months after a gun actor Alec Baldwin was holding went off and killed a cinematographer on a movie set in New Mexico. Democrats in the state Legislature had filed two bills in response to the tragedy, which killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounded director Joel Souza. With competing proposals, Democratic state Sen.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterTwo bills intended to strengthen safety on California movie sets stalled in the state legislature on Thursday, after Hollywood unions and major studios failed to agree on the best approach.Both bills — SB 829 and SB 831 — came in response to the shooting last October on the set of “Rust” in Santa Fe, N.M. Actor Alec Baldwin fired a gun that was loaded with a live round, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding the film’s director.Both bills would have established a new training requirement for film armorers. Much of the blame for the “Rust” shooting has been directed at Hannah Gutierrez Reed, the inexperienced armorer who loaded Baldwin’s gun.

“Investing in sound stage construction and the creation of studios and filming locations is a critical addition to our efforts in increasing filming in the Golden State,” read a statement from State Sen. Anthony Portantino, who authored the bill.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThat escalated quickly.In May, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced an extra $30 million for the state’s film and TV tax credit program.