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I’ve had a lot to say over the years about how rightists refuse to act locally, or seem incapable of doing so. With one of the defining aspects of the Trump era being “the God-King will solve all problems at the national level, because all problems emanate from a Deep State cabal,” it’s understandable that rightists have abandoned local politics.

Add the mental ward that is Musk’s Twitter, in which rightist influencers compete to anoint themselves knights fighting only the largest and most fictional of dragons—Jew vampires! Moloch! The Frankists!—and the lack of interest in local stuff is fully explicable.

Jeremy Boreing: “Gimme money so I can make a film, and kids will see it, absorb the lessons, and in thirty years the culture will be changed!”

Commonsense Conservative: “Wouldn’t it be quicker to use that money to run a slate of school board candidates? Then you could reach kids directly instead of waiting thirty years for osmosis to pay off.”

Boreing: “Are you kidding? There’s no way I can grift toupee money from that!”

Okay, I’ve beaten that horse ragged. This week, let’s talk about how leftists are making the same error.

And not just any leftists, but the leftists you love to hate: Hollyweird leftists.

The current Hollywood “slowdown” is the worst in a half century. The Covid shutdown, followed by BLM-inspired racial quotas that crippled hiring, followed by streaming services overextending on spending (thinking that Covid would keep people locked down forever), followed by streaming services overcorrecting, closing their wallets to the extent that they barely fund anything anymore, followed by two strikes at the same time—actors and writers—shutting down production even longer than Covid did, coupled with competition from videogames and OnlyFans, followed by the devastating L.A. fires.

All those things served to slow production to a crawl. Content just isn’t being produced locally anymore.

See, there’s a wrinkle that isn’t well-known to laypeople. Other states and countries offer insanely generous tax credits, rebates, and other perks to lure production away from L.A. (remember, Hollywood’s not a city. It’s L.A. And it’s not Beverly Hills, which is a city, but not Hollywood. Sorry, but conservatives always need that reminder).

It’s become irresistibly rewarding for productions to move out of California; Hollywood is practically shut down. Not because nothing’s being made, but because what is being made is being made elsewhere. The effect on the local job market is devastating. A quick explainer to the gyuck-gyuckers: “Above-the-line” refers to the “big names” on a movie—the stars, the director, producers, writers. “Below-the-line” is everyone else. The 95 percent. The grips, gaffers, lighters, riggers, production designers, costumers, makeup, hair, first AD, second unit, and supporting actors/extras.

In order to qualify for all those juicy tax credits and rebates handed out by other states and countries, “below-the-line” hires have to be local. That means that 95 percent of the jobs on movies and TV shows are being filled out-of-state and out-of-country, leaving workers in L.A. unemployed.

These days, if you’re below-the-line in L.A., forget it. Bus tables or suck cock; Hollywood’s closed.

None of this is new; runaway production—using perks to lure movies and TV shows away from Hollywood—has been around for decades. It started with Canada, and it’s now everywhere. It’s no longer productions saving a few bucks by hopping from NYC to Toronto. It’s now productions saving (or making) millions by going to Georgia, Connecticut, Europe, and Australasia.

Covid’s done, the strikes are over, the BLM quotas are finished, and even though streaming production is low, content will return; it always does. But runaway production? Right now, there’s no end to that in sight.

Why? Because L.A. and Cali Democrats won’t budge on offering incentives that are competitive with other states and countries.

For example, Georgia’s spent more than $5 billion on rebates and incentives to lure Hollywood productions to the state. That’s why Stranger Things and the Marvel movies are shot there. New York gives away $700 million a year to productions in the form of rebates and tax credits. New Mexico’s perks are so generous, Netflix has poured more than $900 million into the state in the past few years.

See, that’s how it works—a state lures productions with credits and rebates, and in turn the productions pour money into the local job market by hiring locals for the work that used to be done here.

In Ireland, producers gets the cash equivalent of the tax credit in advance. Meaning the producers get money for spending in Ireland before they spend in Ireland.

Nice deal! And it gets nicer. States like Massachusetts and Connecticut give rebates not just for in-state spending, but for the multimillion-dollar salaries of A-list actors. So a studio can pay Tom Cruise his 40 mil, and then get a rebate on it by shooting in MA or CT.

When this program launched in MA, it proved so controversial, then-governor Deval Patrick lied out of his ass, claiming megastar salaries weren’t covered. But the press caught him cold. Per the AP: “A quarter of the tax breaks given to movie companies under Massachusetts’ film tax credit program have gone to help filmmakers cover the paychecks of millionaire Hollywood stars.”

So with film and TV producers reaping so many rewards by shooting outside California, why would they ever return?

Look at the figures. $5 billion budgeted for rebates in Georgia. $700 million in New York.

California? A mere $40 million.

That’s why only two of the TV shows that won Emmys in 2024 were filmed in L.A.—only two.

Obviously, the unions representing below-the-line workers want production to come back. So do the Teamsters, who want CA to raise the credits/rebates to $1 billion. But, according to the L.A. Times, “such a boost will be difficult—if not impossible—to obtain.”

Why won’t California and L.A. help Hollywood bring back production and jobs?

Per the Times/em>: “Critics contend that subsidizing entertainment diverts money away from other crucial sectors such as education and healthcare. ‘When we look at corporate tax incentives like the film credit, one thing that we think about is: Is this effective in achieving a more equitable, prosperous California, and could that money be better spent?’ said Kayla Kitson, a senior policy expert at the California Budget and Policy Center.”