Our Mission

#MakeItBay is an initiative dedicated to uplifting the Bay Area’s cultural economy and generating jobs by attracting film and TV productions to the region. Through the launch of an Oakland Film Development Office and a rebate program administered by the City of Oakland, #MakeItBay will build core infrastructure to support screen sector growth in the East Bay.

The Plan

Through conversations with community members and industry professionals, as well as extensive research into best practices, we’ve put together a roadmap of the path forward for the Bay Area’s screen sector.

This roadmap, combined with research conducted by Olsberg SPI and BAVC Media demonstrates a clear and evidence-based path forward that can be summarized into three main categories:

A robust incentive program & film offices

Incentives attract production, and productions provide both immediate and sustainable boosts to economies.

Infrastructure & workforce development

Supportive infrastructure is needed to facilitate production and prepare a local and diverse workforce to take on multiple projects.

Promotion & Education

To generate community buy-in and promote the Bay Area to the wider industry as an ethical, sustainable, and diverse production hub.

The Timeline

Oakland has always had a deep history of shaping global culture. However, many of our pioneering artists and filmmakers have had to leave Oakland because the city lacked the resources to support their careers. Recognizing the depth of this problem, W. Kamau Bell's Who Knows Best Productions, Favianna Rodriguez' Center for Cultural Power, and Pastor Michael McBride's Live Free USA began to ideate about how to uplift the creative energy of Oakland, and how to bring more economic opportunities to the artists—especially the filmmakers—who live here. 

This is a timeline of their activities.

August 2023

The three anchor organizations began to organize an emergent coalition of Oakland-based filmmakers to design a pathway for solutions. This coalition includes, but is not limited to, filmmakers such as Cheryl Dunye, Pete Nicks, Joslyn Rose Lyons, and Rafael Casal. The perspectives of non-filmmakers were also included, in order to design a strategy that could benefit all Oakland creatives.

The coalition adopts the name East Bay Film Collective.

Early Fall 2023

The East Bay Film Collective (EBFC) decides to present a multifaceted strategy to Oakland’s Mayor and City Council members. The strategy includes 4 aspects:

Passing an economic incentive
Workforce development
Cultivation of spaces for artists to convene
Relaunching the Oakland Film Office

November 2023

EBFC organizes a town hall at Mama Dog Studios to gain support for its vision and enlist partnership from various media and storytelling sectors, including: 

Unions
Guilds
Non-profit organizations

The event was well attended, and word spread of organizing efforts to bring back storytelling infrastructure to Oakland.

Early 2024

The three anchor organizations, along with Unanimous Media, Thirty Ink, and Stephen Curry, commissioned a study from Olsberg SPI, the leading research firm in screen sector development. This study makes the case for investment and lays out a roadmap for encouraging productions to film in Oakland.

July 2024

Through cross-sector organizing, conversations with union and government officials, and activation of filmmakers of all types—including Stephen Curry and Boots Riley—the initiative gains support. Elected officials recognize that the incentive, a core part of the strategy to attract film productions to Oakland, could bring much needed resources to the city and its residents.

The incentive passes unanimously.

Today, the anchor organizations are focused on launching a Film Development Office and moving toward implementation of the Rebate Program!

FAQs

Who is this work for, and why are we doing it?

We aim to serve creative workers who live or work in Oakland. For decades, chronic underfunding in Oakland has created significant barriers and lack of opportunity, forcing many talented creatives to leave the city. We call this Oakland’s “creative brain drain,” and it’s evident across music, art, and especially filmmaking.

Why is this important for entertainment workers?

We believe storytelling is a powerful tool for building political and economic power. The creative workers we serve face inequity and a lack of opportunities within the larger entertainment industry. As highlighted by last year’s writer and actor strikes in Hollywood, the screen sector is often exploitative, making it critical to develop alternative locations where film and TV production can genuinely benefit workers.

How will our work help industry creatives?

We aim to increase economic opportunities for creative workers. Most of the creative workers we organize with come from marginalized communities, including women, BIPOC, and the most diverse communities in Oakland.

We are launching a database of crew, talent, locations and vendors to be made available to film and TV productions. We will also develop pathways for workers to get their information into the database to increase productions’ access to these talent-rich communities.

How does this work benefit Oakland?

The powerful thing about screen sector work is that it employs a wide spectrum of individuals and small businesses to provide films with supportive services. While this includes filmmakers, screenwriters, camera operators, sound engineers, set designers, and location scouts, it also extends to dry cleaners, caterers, drivers, builders, and engineers.

Film and TV work requires a lot of people!