New York Offers $5 Million to Incentivize Minority TV Writing, Directing

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The Television Diversity Tax Credit Bill has been signed into law by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, which would underwrite the salaries and fees of minority residents of the state who are hired to write and direct shows for broadcast, cable and online.

The bill, advocated for by the Writers Guild of America, East, promotes diversity in hiring people of color to write and direct TV shows produced in New York.

The bill funds a study of the number of people of color and the hiring rates for TV work. Based on that study, $5 million will come out of the Empire State Film Production Tax Credit to go to those hiring people of color who reside in the state, capped at $150,000 per person in salaries/fees.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.