The Georgia Film boycott is bullshit.

Recently, the questionably elected governor of Georgia has signed bill #481.

While I don’t support this bill, it is about to put a big dent into my life.

A little about me: I have been an actor since the early 90’s. I have lived in Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and near Atlanta for my career. I’ve worked in casting and as cast. I moved to Georgia in January of 2017. It was a huge pain that involved custody relocation filings, relocating my sick mother, changing schools for my children, and leaving friends behind. But I left because the film tax credits in Louisiana were changing. My husband and I both work in film, though him much more than me. I am an actor and an improvisational comedy teacher, (peripheral to the industry.) He is a medic.

He works as a “set medic.” This means that he is a paramedic who essentially waits on set for people to get hurt. While it’s less frequent than in “real” life, there are serious injuries and even deaths on film sets. Medics are very necessary.

The pay on a film set is much higher than the pay on an ambulance, and I’d argue that it takes less of an emotional toll. At least 50% of our household income comes from film.

In 2016, the tax credits in my home state became a “political pawn.” I suspect that the attention to the credits was driven by the oil and gas/chemical industry as they, themselves, have very generous tax credits. But, I cannot prove that. Either way, the tax credits got into the crosshairs of our politicians. The inevitable question of: “What, exactly, are we getting out of this? ”came up and the legislature decided: “not enough.” Overnight, the large films that my husband worked on, dried up and moved to Georgia: a state that was waiting with open arms. The tax credits had drastically changed.

We planned our move. Like carnival workers, we followed the work. I was in the position of being middle-aged and in a new town. I have had to work hard to get the local casting people in Georgia to notice me. Making friends has been harder in middle age than I expected. But, I persisted.

Now we face the same fate over the “heartbeat bill.” I do not like Brian Kemp. I didn’t vote for him. I don’t believe his election was fairly won. I do not support the draconian measures in the heartbeat bill. I will continue to fight against it and for women’s choices regarding their reproduction to be their own. I identify as a progressive.

Nonetheless, I and my family will be directly affected by this bill because we live and work in Georgia. As such, our jobs have become political pawns once again. Recently, actress Alyssa Milano called for a “boycott” of Georgia. But the problem is, it’s not an actual boycott of Georgia. It’s a boycott of shooting films and shows in Georgia. Big difference. A boycott of Georgia might involve finding the top 10 industries in the state and boycotting them. This boycott is all about really causing pain…..for local cast and crew. While I’ve agreed with and respected Ms. Milano for other opinions she’s had, (her desire to normalize breastfeeding is helpful to other moms,) I don’t support this. It’s all about boycotting in such a way that’s actually more convenient and even self-serving for the people demanding the boycott. They are not demanding that no one drinks Coca Cola, one of the biggest industries in Georgia, but that rather they stop shooting films. Who does that hurt? While I mean no disrespect to Alyssa Milano, that isn’t a sacrifice for her. She lives in LA. If anything, that makes her life easier at the expense of people like me.

Then, let’s not forget that there are multiple other states with their own “heartbeat bills.” What about them? I see and hear NO ONE advocating to boycott Ohio film. Why? Because there is no big industry there. Is anyone calling for a boycott of Ohio’s bioscience industry? How about their manufacturing? I bet those guys aren’t terribly liberal. There is a new bill being introduced in California to capture more of that work from here. I suppose that peripherally includes Ohio. Is that opportunism? Or altruism?

Sooo, what kind of boycott is this? I suppose you could find the major industries in each state, and boycott them all. But that sounds like work. This feels like the privilege of picking up your ball and going home. I don’t see this boycott as being anything other than political posturing with possibly ulterior motives. You certainly aren’t helping the women of Georgia by screwing us out of work. Especially when the people most affected by your boycott are the liberal women of the state. You’re really telling me that you are cool with middle managers at Kia paying their mortgages but not me? Thanks, guys.

In the 90’s, NAFTA created a huge problem for American actors. It was cheaper to shoot in Canada and all of “our” film work went there. I remember actors panicking to try to get Canadian citizenship. These state tax credits pulled work back to the US. The larger films have enormous overhead, so the states with the best tax breaks, win. It’s very simple. Presently, that’s Georgia. They don’t cap their credits and they have infrastructure.

The thing that concerns me the most about this boycott, is that I don’t think many people are even trying to hide that there are beneficial motives. Having lived in Los Angeles, I have a lot of friends there. I am seeing many social media posts saying things like: “Finally, we are getting ‘our’ work back.” There is a proprietary attitude about film work, and there’s a feeling of: “we are paying our dues by living in Los Angeles. We deserve that work.” This concerns me on many levels, not the least of which is the fact that talent is being pitted against each other with no one being concerned. Friends in Louisiana are excited to get “their” work back from Georgia, (until THAT heartbeat bill passes.) Friends in Chicago are hoping that they get some of this work. There is a sense of giddiness at the opportunity for more work in other states. I’m seeing a lot of schadenfreude. That sucks.

When I’ve discussed this with friends in LA, they’ve told me to just move back to LA. While I like them a lot and would love to hang out with them, moving my family again to follow work is far from ideal. We shouldn’t have to move again. Our industry has been targeted. Why? Why aren’t you boycotting the whole state? Why is your progressive agenda so selective? Why is this boycott set up to benefit your home state and you all, personally? Why is it only my industry that you are screwing? Are you still serving Coke at your craft service tables while we suffer? Do you really want us to move? Then what? What happens when all 100,000 plus of our actors and crew move to LA? Would we really be welcomed with open arms to compete with your local cast and crew?

The issue of moral superiority comes up. Recently, we have decided that California is morally superior to Georgia. I personally don’t like moral superiority. I believe that some really bad things happen in the name of moral superiority. But we have decided that California is morally superior to Georgia and, as such, should have movies shot there while Georgia should not.

I would argue that the state of California has enormous tax credits going to defense contractors. In fact, according to the Orange County Register, (Nov 1, 2016,) the state of California has given tax breaks to military and aerospace contractors in the amount of $889.3 million over the last 2 decades. California is, in fact, the home of the biggest military contractors in the country. The biggest breaks apparently went to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. That means that California taxpayers are helping to finance regime-changing conflicts that kill women and children. Is that an ethical problem to you?

Not horrifying enough? This is about women, after all. Women and children being collateral damage in our foreign conflicts like the one in Yemen, (widely considered a genocide,) may not be enough.

Texas and Arizona have been in the news a lot regarding their terrible treatment of women and children immigrants, but how about California? Certainly, this progressive state has more progressive policies towards poor women and children who are crossing our borders?

But this is about women. Especially victims of rape and their rights? Speaking of rape victims are you aware that the state of California allows rapists to co-parent their children if they have not been prosecuted? Considering the fact that approximately 97% of rapes go unprosecuted, that’s a lot of rapists in California having parental rights. They can use those rights to continue having access to their victims. They can use that access to control and torture their victims with threats to the children. They can probably have unsupervised access to their children…. for 18 years. Cool, cool.

Last night, I saw one of my friends who lives in LA on social media rejoicing about Kristin Wiig pulling her Lionsgate comedy from Georgia. He gave the high 5 emoji. Wow. You are cheering us losing work. Thanks.

Is it possible that Ms. Wiig could have helped women in Georgia by using her platform of fame to go to the governor’s office and demand change with local women? We are here and we need your help. I see Ms. Wiig most recently living in Silver Lake. That’s LA. I do understand being angry, frustrated, and disgusted about the bill here, but could you please help the women of this state in another way other than staying at home? Are we not worthy of your help? Perhaps we didn’t work hard enough to elect Stacy Abrams?, (yes, I’ve heard that justification from LA film workers. That this is “our” fault, so we deserve to lose jobs.) Jeez.

To repeat I don’t agree with the “heartbeat bill.” I think it’s awful. But you are not affecting Brian Kemp with your film boycott. That jackass is probably eyeballing the presidency in 2024. It’s a political move. Instead, you are affecting your makeup artists, medics, grips, gaffers, and other minor cast members. We are the folks holding our breaths in hopes of getting the gig so that our kids can go to the good summer camp this year. Please, please don’t take that from us.

If you are organizing a boycott, please boycott everything or nothing. “In for a penny, in for a pound.” A boycott of Coca Cola, Peaches, and Kias will go way farther to affect change than not shooting one movie. Maybe find the top 10 industries in each state? The bathroom bill boycott that everyone is talking about was different because they boycotted the entire state. Not just one industry in those states. A boycott should be swift and powerful so that it causes the least amount of pain to the least of our people who will be most affected.

A half-hearted boycott that affects only one industry only hurts the people in that industry. The fact that it’s only happening in ONE state makes it dubious, at best. I don’t see anyone calling for a specific film boycott of Alabama. Just Georgia. While the heartbeat bills sucks, California isn’t exactly innocent in the realm of being horrible to women. Can we be honest about why this boycott is happening? Can we lose the moral superiority? Can we be in this together instead of being pitted against each other? Can we look at these choices in a different light and figure out a way to help the cause and not hurt the women?

People like Alyssa Milano and Kristin Wiig are talented celebrities who have a voice. My opinion is not intended as a personal attack on them or any other celebrities who believe in protecting the right to choice. I love Kristin in “Ghostbusters,” (which I’ve watched approximately 457 times. I have kids;) and Alyssa in “Insatiable.” But, PLEASE use those voices to do something other than get us all on unemployment? Pretty please with equal rights on top?

Thanks for reading my stuff! You’re the best! If you like what I do and want to buy me a coffee, here is my link: