A new bill is being introduced to provide a 35% subsidy for animation productions in California. I admire the intent of this bill to keep jobs in California. If AI replaces most artists' jobs, will executives inflate their salaries or other costs to take advantage of the subsidies?
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/law/a-new-california-bill-is-proposing-a-35-...
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This bill is huge, Bob Harper! Hope it passes! It'll really help artists and animation companies in California. There's so much talent there. I hope AI doesn't replace most artists' jobs, and I hope execs don't do that!
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The challenge is that if it is handled the same way that the live action incentives are (and not the way animation incentives are in other countries) most indies will never see it. I hope it happens but we've lost so much animation in California and in the states in general, that it will be tough to pull it back, just because it's far less expensive elsewhere.
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Bob Harper, thanks for sharing this it’s a really important conversation. Your question hits on a real concern. As AI continues to gain traction in production pipelines, there’s a risk that cost-saving measures could be used to justify cutting artists rather than reinvesting in them. If subsidies like this are implemented without clear labor protections or requirements for human creative roles, the door could absolutely open for those funds to be redirected into executive pay or inflated overhead.
Hopefully, the conversation around this bill includes strong advocacy from the animation community to ensure the intent is to support artists and jobs.
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Laurie Ashbourne, you bring up such an important point and I completely agree. If this ends up being structured like many of the live-action incentives we’ve been seeing, where the bulk of the benefit goes to major studios with the infrastructure to take full advantage, it’s going to be incredibly difficult for indie animation teams to access any real support.
The reality is, we’ve already seen so much incredible talent and production move overseas because of cost and without a truly accessible and competitive incentive model, this bill won’t be enough to reverse that trend. It’s a step in the right direction, but the execution is going to matter so much.
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I agree with Laurie Ashbourne . This will likely benefit the larger studios, which I don't believe would incentivise them to keep talent from being replaced by AI, but either inflate executive pay and/or greenlight more productions.
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What will the larger studios do after they have lost all talent, and all that remains are a few overpaid executives? Anyone has access to the same A.I. and outsourcing pool...
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The reality is that the major studios are already outsourcing to other countries. Disney built its own studio in Canada although it keeps a smallish production unit here and at Pixar. Paramount, Skydance, Dreamworks and Illumination all use artists and studios that are in other countries. Sony and Netflix are a mixed bag depending on the production. Most of the talented veterans are part of (or have started) smaller indie shops, they the ones who need this most. And to Patrik Gyltefors 's point, a lot of the hefty price tags for studios like Disney and Sony are because of the technology. These departments are far larger than the artistic departments, especially as each production tends to create its own pipeline to leverage new tools and looks (often to make the films look more "hand made!). Unless specific carve outs are built into this for smaller studios, the incentives will no doubt go to those entities.