Saturday, February 27th, 2016
Los Angeles
BRING HOLLYWOOD HOME
WHAT DOES OUR WORK HAVE TO DO WITH TOMORROW NIGHT’S 88TH ACADEMY AWARDS IN HOLLYWOOD?
Bill Duke receives a Golden Spirit Award from Hollywood with Students invited by Bring Hollywood Home to recognize the leadership of those who are fighting for the future of the entertainment industry. “No single individual has fought harder for diversity in Hollywood than Bill Duke, Secretary of Bring Hollywood Home.” says Sharon Hardee Jimenez who founded the first 501 C 4 with the ability to lobby for minorities and women who have been left out of the tax credits passed by the California legislature since 2010. “The problem is that despite all the work we’ve done with Bill Duke (Directors Guild of America-DGA) Diversity Group, black, brown, Asian, and women owned independent production companies still have no real access to the tax credit incentives in California. When Bill Duke the first black director to direct a blockbuster sequel, Sister Act II, that grossed over 100 million dollars worldwide, gets to work he has to work outside of California. Why? Because there are no tax credit incentives for his production company that allows Bill Duke and other minority producers to bring investors to their production projects.”
Two time Oscar nominated actress Laura Dern in Hollywood picking up the prestigious Mary Pickford Award for her mother, Diane Ladd, who was honored by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce this year for her lifetime work on behalf of the entertainment industry. Laura Dern is in London now working on the next Star Wars, but, like her mother all of the work she gets requires she leave California because there are no tax credit incentives for women owned production companies that allow even the biggest stars in Hollywood to make their movies here at home.
Frida & Mark Greenberg CPA Miller Ward have supported the work of Bring Hollywood Home over the past several years because the business management group has an entertainment division. “Too many people aren’t working in Hollywood. This has caused a crisis of confidence in what if any leadership we will ever see in the city of Los Angeles and the state of California to bring jobs back in the creative economy.” says Jimenez as she awaits the next Oscar season with most of the movies nominated for Best Picture made outside of California.
Best Supporting Actress AARP 2016 for JOY, Diane Ladd worked outside of California all through 2015. If she wants to work in 2016 she will likely have to pack her bags and be thankful she is lucky enough to have work in the entertainment industry. “Diane Ladd and I went to the Inglewood South Bay Branch of the NAACP the week before the “whitewash” report came out of USC to tell the long time civil rights leadership group in LA County that there are too few movies being made and too many people out of work in the entertainment industry. The problem the actress emphatically told the NAACP is that all the money in the industry goes to too few productions and women and minority owned production companies don’t get their fair share of incentives and can’t get financing for their films as a result.”
California leaders like Jerome E. Horton, past chairman of the California Board of Equalization the tax agency for the state have recognized the leadership of Bring Hollywood Home. “When Gary Visconti (pictured here with Jerome Horton) and I co-founded Bring Hollywood Home in 2010 we brought an Olympic effort to the work to save Hollywood. Visconti a two time Olympian sought the support of former Governor Arnold Shwarzenegger one of his oldest friends, and architect Frank Gehry, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer all close friends of the World Champion ice skater to come to the cause of the grassroots leadership. Despite all the work we’ve done and all the outreach, the problem is so big in Hollywood that the voices of the minority and women in Tinsel Town just can’t get past the huge profits being made job outsourcing.” emphasizes Jimenez.
On the eve of the 88th Academy Awards Bring Hollywood Home congratulates all the nominees, reflects in sorrow at the lack of diversity, and challenges our state leadership in Hollywood and our USA leadership in the White House and in Congress to provide the incentives and new business models we must have to increase production and post production in film, tv, movies, new media, and music video production in 2016.
For More Information Please Contact:
Sharon Hardee Jimenez, President, Founder Bring Hollywood Home Foundation
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