robblack2006.com Blog

I was very honored to be the special guest of the Directors Guild of America, San Francisco Coordinating Committee annual mixer where I was presented a beautiful plaque recognizing my work in revitalizing the San Francisco Film Industry.  The DGA honored both Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier and me for our work on drafting and creating San Francisco’s Film and Television Incentive Program, the first film incentive program in the state of California.  The program is a good first step in bringing back the thousands of good paying union jobs that have been lost in the Bay Area over the past five to ten years.
Our success was largely due to the hard work of FX Crowely and IATSE Local 16, Bob Morales and the Teamsters, the DGA, SAG/AFTRA, and the many others who came out to testify about how important this legislation was to the working women and men of San Francisco.

I first started working on film incentive issues in 1998 when I was the Director of Special Projects for the Screen Actors Guild.  In conjunction with the DGA, SAG conducted the first major analysis of the economic impact of run away production on the United States economy.  At that time, we found that the United States had lost over $5 billion to countries like Canada and New Zealand due to their aggressive film incentive programs.  I am very proud, eight years later, to have played a role in passing California’s first film incentive package.