What Hollywood Boycotts Would Really Do to Georgia
On May 28, Netflix threw down a gauntlet. If the so-called heartbeat abortion bill recently signed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp—one of several such bills states passed this year that would effectively ban abortion—becomes the law of the land as planned in January, the company said it would withdraw all of its business from the state, including millions of dollars of film and television production.
Although stars such as and had promised personal boycotts of Georgia production facilities before last Tuesday, Netflix’s threat was the first from a Hollywood studio, many of which have moved major production efforts to Georgia because of the state’s lucrative entertainment tax incentives. These incentives have brought more than 92,000 jobs and nearly $4.6 billion in wages to the state since 2008, along with productions such as and , to data from the Motion Picture Association of America. Those jobs include thousands of janitors, caterers, carpenters, and others involved in the less glamorous parts of entertainment—not the kind of people who get relocated when a studio moves.
