Longtime FilmLA executive Denise Gutches has been named the nonprofit’s new chief executive.

Gutches, who has served as FilmLA’s chief financial and operating officer since 2011, will assume her new role on Jan. 1. FilmLA President Paul Audley will retire at the end of December after a 17-year tenure with the organization, which announce the change Wednesday morning.

“We have a lot to do in this creative economy,” Gutches said in an interview. “I am definitely up for this challenge.”

The leadership transition comes as Hollywood tries to lure back film and television production that has relocated to other states and countries in search of lower costs and more generous tax incentives. Earlier this year, California increased the annual amount allocated to its own film and TV tax credit p

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