Michael Cieply

Lawmakers and Gov Jerry Brown (D-CA) said they had reached an agreement to expand the California film incentive program, capping a drive by entertainment industry unions, filmmakers and executives to bolster sagging movie and television production in the state.

The new tax-credit incentive will provide $330 million in state money annually for local film and television production, replacing an expiring program that was limited to $100 million a year.

The incentive will be offered for five years beginning with the 2016 fiscal year under the deal between Gov Brown and legislators, many of whom had been pressing for as much as $400 million in annual financing, to match similar incentives offered in New York.

The California legislative analyst’s office offered what it called “preliminary observations” on the push for expanded film and television subsidies in the state -- and it advices to proceed with a great deal of caution.

To date, California has offered $100 million a year in tax credits to support film production; proposed legislation would expand the program considerably. No dollar amounts have yet been assigned, but backers have talked privately of subsidies matching New York’s program, which is capped at about $420 million a year.

In its report, the analyst’s office acknowledged that larger incentives might help protect what it called a “flagship California industry,” one that has been fleeing to other states (and countries) with more generous subsidies. But the report offered a list of reasons to be wary: film and television production is growing more slowly than the rest of the economy, and may decline even with help; competing with other states could become hugely expensive; any benefits from an expanded credit would be concentrated largely around Los Angeles; and, other industries, some with arguably greater social utility, might well demand subsidies of their own.

The state analyst is expected to issue a full report on California’s film subsidies by the end of 2015.

“It’s going to be five years before anybody puts his head above the parapet again.” That’s how Michael Weatherly, a member of the British Parliament and intellectual property adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron, handicapped the prospects for a fresh legislative push against online piracy in the United States.

Following the defeat in 2012 of the Stop Online Piracy Act, movie companies and other advocates for copyright owners both here and in Britain have been pointed toward voluntarism. That has meant, among other things, agreements under which Internet service providers send escalating warnings to those who are believed to be downloading copyrighted material illegally.

But Weatherly also talked of escalating pressure -- legal and otherwise -- on those who advertise on sites where illegal downloading is taking place. “There are some laws in place, but we might need to beef up a couple of them a bit more,” suggested Weatherly, who spoke of an effort to “strangle the advertising revenue from the illegal sites.”

Dee Dee Myers, once the White House press secretary to President Bill Clinton, will be joining Warner Bros. as executive vice president for worldwide corporate communications and public affairs, the studio said.

Myers replaces Sue Fleishman, who is leaving the post after nine years at Warner.

Myers, who has been a Washington-based communications consultant after co-hosting a political talk show on CNBC and serving as an adviser to "The West Wing," will relocate to Los Angeles and begin work on Sept. 2, Warner said. She will report directly to Kevin Tsujihara, Warner’s chief executive officer, the studio said.