California just passed a tax credit that pays for editors, not software.
The piece
California just passed a tax credit that pays for editors, not software. On September nineteenth, Governor Newsom signed AB twenty-three nineteen. It's California's first standalone tax credit for post-production.
If you cut, mix, or comp for a living, and your phone's been quiet all year, this one's for you. For a year, the story's been that AI is coming for post. This week, a state wrote a law that pays productions to hire people in post.
It names the jobs. Picture editorial. Sound. Music. Visual effects. Finishing. The point is to bring post back.
The Editors Guild says it means, "even projects shooting outside of our state can come back to California to employ Editors Guild members in post-production." It sits on top of the main program, which went from three hundred thirty million to seven hundred fifty million dollars last year. The state projects nearly thirty-five thousand cast and crew jobs from it.
What the announcement didn't say is how big the new post credit is. There's no dollar figure yet. Watch for it. Thirty years in, I've learned to follow the money.
For once, it's pointing at the edit bay. Here's the honest part. A tax credit decides where the work goes. It does nothing about how many people the work needs. That's a different fight, and this doesn't touch it. So if you're in California, ask every project you talk to
whether it's going after the post credit. If it is, your location just became a line item that saves them money. Say it out loud. Editorial, sound, VFX, or finishing.
Source: Office of Gov. Newsom, 9/19/26.