Back in 2008, Georgia enacted a series of tax and production incentives that resulted in Georgia becoming known as the “Hollywood of the South.” Not only were the tax incentives appealing but union rules were also less strict than those in California (a factor in Vancouver becoming the Hollywood of Canada).
Now Hollywood is attempting to use its financial clout and cultural leverage to influence abortion law in Georgia by threatening to leave the state if Georgia’s new “heartbeat” law goes into effect. The list of Hollywood entities making this threat is quite extensive and includes Netflix, Disney, NBCUniversal, and others.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that “Viacom, CBS, Sony, AMC, NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia Go Public Against Georgia Abortion Law.”
Georgia had to know what was at stake, so it will be interesting to follow how Hollywood’s blatant attempt to influence policy in the state plays out.
Hollywood threw down the gauntlet on Thursday in lining up and threatening to pull their business out of states that have adopted severe anti-abortion laws.Billions of dollars in production are at stake. States and countries alike vie for their slice of the current content boom. But apparently no one counted on political pushback from the dream machine.As of Thursday, nine media companies – Netflix, Disney, WarnerMedia, Sony, AMC, NBCUniversal, STX Entertainment, CBS with its premium cable company Showtime and Viacom – have now warned that they might pull their productions out of states that pass bills banning abortion.. . . . The studios were still silent, for three weeks.But as the abortion issue has gathered steam with unexpected force and speed in the past three weeks, as one state after another has signed its own version of a heartbeat bill — Louisiana, Alabama and now Ohio is poised to do so — Hollywood started to feel the heat from its own community.That clearly led to the avalanche of opposition this week. One statement after another suggested that the media companies hope that the courts will solve the problem for them, but warned they would not work in states that enact these laws.It may be true that many of these laws will not withstand a court challenge, as they are in open defiance of federal law.But for the moment, Hollywood and the red states are headed for a showdown.
It is worth noting that this is little more than virtue signalling on the part of many of these Hollywood entities.
For example, the Daily Caller notes that Disney is threatening Georgia over its abortion law but still partners with China (which is currently holding Muslims in detention camps).
The Walt Disney Company is considering boycotting Georgia over its new abortion law, even as Disney profits from doing business in China, a notorious human rights violator that is putting Muslims in internment camps.Disney CEO Bob Iger told Reuters on Thursday the company is likely to cease filming in Georgia if the pro-life law takes effect.. . . . Disney apparently has no issue with doing business in China, which has undertaken mass detentions of Uighur Muslims, placing them in internment camps.Disney opened a $5.5 billion resort in Shanghai, China, in 2016. Iger called Shanghai Disney the company’s “greatest opportunity since buying land in Florida.” Disney partnered with a state-owned company, Shanghai Shendi Group, for the resort.
Meanwhile, the Daily Caller also notes in another article, Netflix is continuing production in Egypt, where abortion is illegal in almost all cases, and in Jordan, where it is severely restricted.
Netflix plans to step up production in the Middle East, notably Jordan and Egypt, where abortion is illegal, after mulling a company boycott in Georgia on account of the “heartbeat” abortion bill.Netflix’s Chief Content Officer, Ted Sarandos, stated, Tuesday, that the company would “rethink” its Georgia investments if the “heartbeat” abortion bill takes effect.Netflix’s expressed reluctance to produce content in regions with strong anti-abortion laws seemingly does not extend to the Middle East, where recently the company has been ramping up the number of undertaken projects, according to Variety.. . . . Netflix is working on its third Arabic original, titled “Paranormal,” Variety reports. The show will be based on a series of Arabic horror books written by Egyptian author, Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, according to Variety. The show will be produced in Egypt, where abortion is punishable by imprisonment in almost all circumstances, according to the Pew Research Center.. . . . “Jinn” is a Netflix produced teen drama with supernatural elements that was shot in Jordan, according to Variety. In Jordan, abortions are “very restrictive” and only legal when it is deemed that the mother’s physical and mental health are at risk or fetal impairment is determined, according to Haaretz.
These companies do not want to pull out of Georgia; it’s a financially attractive place to produce their product.
Various actors have reportedly pulled out of productions scheduled to be filmed in Georgia, so this may contribute to the virtue signalling, but these actors are being incredibly selfish and not taking into account the thousands of people who work on film crews and will be deeply harmed.
Film production crews in Georgia are fighting back against Hollywood studios and actors who are proposing a boycott of the state after Gov. Brian Kemp signed a bill that would ban abortions after a heartbeat is detected.. . . . “It’s ultimately hurting more people than it is going to do any justice,” a 39-year-old best boy grip told BuzzFeed News about a possible boycott. The grip preferred to remain anonymous because, like many other staffers who spoke to BuzzFeed News, he was afraid of losing his job.After moving to Atlanta to work in production and having spent the last six years in the TV and film industry, the grip is now worried about what a Hollywood boycott would mean for him and his family.“It’s not going to affect the politicians and the actors,” he said. “They’re still going to keep going to work in other places like they always have. But with us here, it’s going to destroy us.”
Real lives, those of the unborn and of the non-elite “little people,” simply don’t matter to Hollywood. They are focused on their regressive ideology, their preening virtue signalling, and their unwarranted sense of self-importance.
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