Governor Newsom signed the California State Budget 2021-2022 (the Budget) on July 12 with total funding of $262.6 billion. The key economic and tax highlights of the state Budget are as follows: SALT DEDUCTION WORKAROUND AND ENTITY-LEVEL TAX FOR PASS-THROUGHS The Budget includes the SALT workaround of the $10,000 federal cap on individuals’ deductions for state and [...]

“That is the way the cookie crumbles” is an idiom often used when something bad happens and one must accept the outcome. But for Loren Brill Castle, founder and CEO of better-for-you cookie company Sweet Loren’s, that is a phrase she cannot accept. After beating a cancer diagnosis in her 20s, she embarked on a new healthy lifestyle. As a result, she created Sweet Lore [...]

Principal and Business Disruption Expert David Sutton returns for a new episode of GHJ’s “Business Disruption and Resilience Podcast” series about how businesses respond to disruption and adversity. In this episode, Tim Miklaucic, CEO and Founder of Cordoba Music Group (a leading manufacturer and distributor of acoustic and electric guitars, ukuleles and musical inst [...]

As media consumption continues to transition away from physical media like DVD and Blu-ray into digital formats, the topic of “Big Data” has become more prevalent and a growing area of concern for rights holders, producers and film studios alike (licensors). According to The Digital Entertainment Group, digital rentals or transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) and digit [...]

Employee resource groups (ERGs) are voluntary, employee-led cohorts whose members have shared characteristics like gender, ethnicity or interests. According to TopMBA, 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have ERGs. These groups help support employees’ personal and professional goals while fostering a more diverse and inclusive workplace. Focused on DEI, GHJ launched [...]

Originally published in INSIDE Public Accounting Difficult times bring out the best in people. Necessity is the mother of invention. There is no education like adversity. While these maxims might be cliché, their insights ring true. There is no going back to how companies operated pre-pandemic: long commutes, a typical 9-to-5 workday, daily face-to-face interaction [...]

GHJ Entertainment Partner Ilan Haimoff and Jason E. Squire, professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts and editor of The Movie Business Book Fourth Edition, are back for another episode of GHJ’s Movie Business Podcast Series. In this episode, Ilan and Jason interview Steve Mangel of UniFi Completion Guarantors to discuss completion bonds and their role in movie pr [...]

The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear arguments for California v. Texas, effectively ending constitutional challenges to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). THE CHALLENGE In this challenge, Texas and several other plaintiffs sued the federal government claiming the ACA’s individual mandate is unconstitutional. Plaintiffs argued that harm was done by requiring [...]

GHJ recently completed an in-depth study of key financial performance indicators (KPIs) in connection with television production and distribution. These KPIs shed light on the challenges and opportunities faced by producers, distributors and investors across the television industry. Overall, the analysis explores various relationships among key elements of television [...]

Honest conversations about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace are difficult and uncomfortable at times. But having them is the first step to create a better workplace for all. Companies looking to create a better diversity, equity and inclusive strategy should know two things: You will not always get it right all at once, and that is OK. Your str [...]