Stopping Export of Jobs in Animation

* On April 13 my wife and I joined about 150 other members of our union, the Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists, in picketing KCET, our local Public Broadcasting System TV station [“Animators to Picket KCET for Using Foreign Work,” April 12].

We were picketing because KCET, while being supported by our taxes and by tax-deductible donations, has sent 10 animated shows out of the country to be produced. We estimate that in doing so the station has exported about 300 jobs--and with them their tax revenues--out of the state and out of the country. About 1,000 members of our Southern California local are now out of work, a situation that is mirrored in nonunion studios and in live-action film as well.

KCET representatives asserted to the media that tax money was not used to pay for the animated shows exported to Canada. The argument is specious in the extreme since a considerable amount of KCET’s budget comes from donations, which are tax-deductible. Particularly in the case of large corporate donations, tax-deductible status amounts to an indirect use of taxes to fund the station. It was particularly painful for many of us picketing that we had been paying members of KCET over the years.

It might surprise many readers that our work is being sent to Canada, a nation whose standard of living is comparable to our own. The reason Canadian studios can charge less than those in California is that the Canadian government subsidizes its film industry. Many states likewise give tax breaks as a lure to film producers, understanding that the tax revenues generated by salaries and support industries will more than make up the initial losses in rebates and other incentives to producers.

Unfortunately, California’s legislature appears to balk at doing what works for Canada and other states, this despite the state’s huge tax surplus. Two bills, AB 358 and AB 484, that would give tax rebates to producers who make their films and TV shows in California have enthusiastic support from both management and labor, a rare win-win situation. Unfortunately, both bills are stalled in committee.

After my wife and I wrote Gov. Gray Davis urging his active support for AB 358, we received an equivocal form letter from his office assuring us that our views would be considered when it came time for the governor to act on the bill. Meanwhile, jobs in the entertainment industry, one of the mainstays of the California economy, continue to be lost to other states and other countries. Considering the power of the governor’s office to influence legislation, the question is: Will Davis fiddle while Hollywood burns?

TIM CALLAHAN

Altadena