Workplace Hollywood: Securing a Return on Our Investment
In 1997, the City of Los Angeles planned to grant $345 million in taxpayer subsidies to Playa Vista, a master planned mixed use development on the west side of Los Angeles. $70 million was slated for a new studio to house DreamWorks SKG, the entertainment corporation founded by moguls Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. SCOPE and the Metropolitan Alliance, a group of progressive community-based organizations, labor unions, faith-based organizations and grassroots neighborhood networks representing low income residents, launched a corporate accountability campaign demanding that the City guarantee that the public, especially low income communities, would receive a return on our investment in the form of training and job opportunities in the entertainment industry.
After two years of mobilizing residents to public hearings, meetings, letters and calls with DreamWorks, elected officials, training partners and allies, the principals of DreamWorks endowed $5 million to create Workplace Hollywood, now a $10 million organization designed to ensure that historically under-represented and economically disadvantaged communities in Los Angeles can effectively compete for and gain access to job and business opportunities in the entertainment industry. The Alliance was written in as a participant in the fund's administration to ensure accountability and community involvement in shaping theprogram. DreamWorks secured participation in the organization from leaders in every major industry studio. For reasons unrelated to the campaign, DreamWorks shuttered their plans to build a new studio at Playa Vista. They remain committed to Workplace Hollywood and its mission.
This campaign victory was a significant step toward shifting the balance of power in the struggle for economic justice:
- It was the first time that a training fund had been written directly into a development agreement as a condition of use of taxpayer subsidies
- The final agreement represented an alternative and more democratic approach to economic development by including the community in developing a more equitable subsidy package
- Created a model for public subsidy accountability that ultimately included major investment by private industry
Links to articles and press releases on the campaign:
"Dreaming of Freebies." By Marc Cooper. New Times Los Angeles, September 18.24, 1997.
"Scrutinizing the Subsidies: What do you get for $10 billion?" By Bobbi Murray. LA Weekly, August 7-13, 1998.
"A Dream in the Works" By Bobbi Murray, LA Weekly, July 30-August 5, 1999.