With the announcement of Occidental Studios lowering their sale price after being on the market for over a year now and the announcement of BoxCar Studios going for sale, both in Los Angeles, it all clearly shows that the state of the Hollywood industry in California has become dire. So many other studios have been for sale for years now with no buyers stepping in save for Netflix’s headline acquisition of Radford Studios to give themselves permanent stage space in Los Angeles. Babs Do Studios could step in to take over these studios, we have the business plan and production needs to make that happen but so many other nightmarish California policies are preventing any such plans for us and many other businesses from returning to the state. The message couldn’t be clearer, to stop the decline of the U.S. Entertainment Industry, we all need to work together to build beyond the old Hollywood system in California and establish a new “Hollywood 2.0” for all!
We ask that investors step forward to support our development and for politicians to help take up our proposed Universal Film Tax Credit Bill at the state level and our Universal Federal Film Tax Credit Bill at the federal level as soon as possible to give us and U.S. artists, students, and workers the support systems to grow, expand, and create across multiple states and even nationwide!
As stated in a long X post, here is our statement regarding this situation:
X Post
“Critics of expanding Film & Media business and industry beyond Hollywood and defenders of California need to answer the question as to why are so many Hollywood film studio campuses going up for sale and why aren’t they being bought up immediately? Well, the problem is that film studios are special use properties, adapting and repurposing them is not so easy. More than that, the creative teams, groups, and companies people think would be out there to buy these studios up can’t afford them. This is why the Infrastructure Tax Credits for Film & Media projects in our state and federal Universal Film Tax Credit Bills are so important, they open up startup solutions for acquiring and building exactly this kind of high-cost startup infrastructure.
Ultimately, more money gets made with a film studio being operational than having it converted to static warehousing or, as is the craze among politicians that has yet to ever play out to help anyone, conversion to residential. One of the most useless things said against our Universal Film Tax Credit Bill proposals has been “Use your own money!” which is essentially yelling at someone to save up tens or hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, it is a statement that is completely out of touch with reality and wholly unproductive. Having the systems in place for jumpstarting major business right away would be far more beneficial to the community long-term than losing specialized infrastructure like film studios to redevelopment or demolition while someone works for years or decades searching for investors or hoping to land a dream job that pays more than $1 Million a year. The reality, less than 2-percent of people make $1M annually.
In Las Vegas, Nevada, there may not be film studios but an example of this lies in our movie theater offerings. Two large multiplex theaters have been closed with one being converted to a rock climbing wall business and the other being converted to a gym. A legacy theater was also demolished entirely. Needless to say, a Google search would show that there are far too many options for gyms and rock climbing walls, including free or low cost options in high-quality local Nevada community centers, but our loss of these movie theaters can be felt throughout the city with every major film release that exposes a loss of community and business activity in areas without a movie theater nearby. Like a movie theater, a film studio opens up new major business opportunities and access to Multi-Billion Dollar industry at the same time, this is why states are calling for more to be built to allow them to participate and compete but, just like the theaters, if there is no support to help startup to build or take over one that is for sale, then it is a loss for the community, the city, the state, and, by all measures of potential business, the country.
We need new innovation and solutions to solve this as sound stage campuses across the country are currently for sale and others are nearly going under as well by depending solely on Hollywood business that has largely left the country. Critics who say “Film & Media isn’t considered infrastructure” need only look at the history of Film & Media around the world and the rampant developments that are happening today in almost every country outside the United States to build as many studios, theaters, and establish new Film Tax Credit programs as possible. Film & Media is not an industry the United States can lose just because short-sighted critics don’t like Hollywood culture or California politics. Establishing new independent Film & Media business across the country with “Hollywood 2.0” will establish its own multi-state culture and spreading business around will mitigate political influence. However, we can only do that if we have the support to build and compete not only within the United States but on a global scale.
Our Universal Film Tax Credit Bills at the state and federal levels solve this by providing new Film & Media financing solutions that should have been in place long ago and opens up mass opportunities for local business and industry development to allow states to build their own “Hollywood 2.0” industries. If all we do is continue to wait, then we will risk losing one of the most valuable multi-generational economic generators humanity has ever created. Investors and politicians need to act and change strategies if they want to ever see the evolution of entertainment and all the benefits “Hollywood 2.0″ can bring.”