Motion Picture Association Hires New Head of State Government Lobbying
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media WriterThe Motion Picture Association announced Thursday it has hired Kathy Bañuelos to lead its lobbying efforts at state and local governments.Bañuelos comes to the trade organization from NBCUniversal, where she was vice president of government affairs.
She will take over for Vans Stevenson, who has overseen state government lobbying for the MPA since 1995.In that period, Stevenson led the organization’s efforts in state capitols across the country to establish and expand tax incentives for film and TV production.
Those efforts — meant to stem a tide of “runaway productions” that headed overseas in the late 1990s and early 2000s — have transformed domestic film financing, and reshaped the geographic distribution of production work.
The state of Georgia recently disclosed that it had awarded a record $1.2 billion last year through its 30% incentive, a policy that has transformed the state into a major production hub.
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