Last time I checked, still no new film businesses of consequence opening in Iowa. Who says film incentives don't do any good.
Mich. film tax incentive keeps cameras rolling at Pixofactor
http://www.detnews.com/article/20100617/BIZ/6170380/1001/Mich.-film-tax-incentive-keeps-cameras-rolling-at-Pixofactor
Friday, June 18, 2010
Atlanta studio opens as filming in Georgia booms
Yet another article about a new film studio in Atlanta, Georgia. To think a version of this could have happened in Iowa.
Atlanta studio opens as filming in Georgia booms
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/06/atlanta-studio-opens-as-filming-in-georgia-booms.html
Atlanta studio opens as filming in Georgia booms
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2010/06/atlanta-studio-opens-as-filming-in-georgia-booms.html
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
New Mexico Still Going Strong But Threats Lurk
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The plot is thinning on Iowa film fiasco
This is a Letter to the Editor from Gene Hamilton and Jay Villwock that appeared in the Tuesday, June 15, 2010 issue of The Des Moines Register:
We appreciate the Register's continuing coverage of the Iowa film tax-credit situation, including the June 11 article, "New Charges Filed in Film Probe."
Remember the '70s TV ad where the old lady at the burger counter asks, "Where's the BEEF?" Well, Iowa's film industry is likely to ask that same question when it comes to the open-ended and nearly year-long investigation of Iowa's film tax-credit program.
Let's take an inventory of state agencies that joined in this probe parade: auditors, tax experts, prosecutors and criminal investigators - a Grand Inquisition that so far has yielded charges against only one film out of more than 100 film projects.
For this, the state has slammed the door on every Iowan involved in the film industry, not to mention out-of-state producers who had plans in place to create permanent studio facilities for multiple film projects to be made here in Iowa.
As the never-ending Iowa film tax-credit probe continues, and while the Iowa film community joins the legions of Iowa's unemployed, many creative Iowans must have that famous Peggy Lee song running through their heads: "Is That All There Is?"
- Jay Villwock and Gene L. Hamilton, Des Moines
We appreciate the Register's continuing coverage of the Iowa film tax-credit situation, including the June 11 article, "New Charges Filed in Film Probe."
Remember the '70s TV ad where the old lady at the burger counter asks, "Where's the BEEF?" Well, Iowa's film industry is likely to ask that same question when it comes to the open-ended and nearly year-long investigation of Iowa's film tax-credit program.
Let's take an inventory of state agencies that joined in this probe parade: auditors, tax experts, prosecutors and criminal investigators - a Grand Inquisition that so far has yielded charges against only one film out of more than 100 film projects.
For this, the state has slammed the door on every Iowan involved in the film industry, not to mention out-of-state producers who had plans in place to create permanent studio facilities for multiple film projects to be made here in Iowa.
As the never-ending Iowa film tax-credit probe continues, and while the Iowa film community joins the legions of Iowa's unemployed, many creative Iowans must have that famous Peggy Lee song running through their heads: "Is That All There Is?"
- Jay Villwock and Gene L. Hamilton, Des Moines
Yes, Virginia, There IS A FILM PROGRAM!
Virginia boosts incentives for filmmakers
Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Monday officially signed into law two bills that will help the Commonwealth compete for film and television productions.
One bill creates Virginia’s first-ever tax credit for the film industry. Another increases from $200,000 to $2 million funding for the governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund for fiscal year 2011.
Both are designed to lure the production of film, television, documentaries and digital media to Virginia.
“These measures … are smart investments to create jobs and raise revenue through economic growth,” McDonnell said at the signing in Richmond. “Virginia has so much to offer with its rich history and natural beauty, and it is critical that we capitalize on this to attract new motion picture productions to the state.”
Under the legislation, production companies can apply for tax credits on money spent on labor, goods and services in the state.
Virginia joins 42 other states and the District with similar incentives. The tax credits will take effect January 2011.
Washington Business Journal - by Jeff Clabaugh
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell Monday officially signed into law two bills that will help the Commonwealth compete for film and television productions.
One bill creates Virginia’s first-ever tax credit for the film industry. Another increases from $200,000 to $2 million funding for the governor’s Motion Picture Opportunity Fund for fiscal year 2011.
Both are designed to lure the production of film, television, documentaries and digital media to Virginia.
“These measures … are smart investments to create jobs and raise revenue through economic growth,” McDonnell said at the signing in Richmond. “Virginia has so much to offer with its rich history and natural beauty, and it is critical that we capitalize on this to attract new motion picture productions to the state.”
Under the legislation, production companies can apply for tax credits on money spent on labor, goods and services in the state.
Virginia joins 42 other states and the District with similar incentives. The tax credits will take effect January 2011.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
From the Colorado Springs Business Journal
Lights, camera but too little action
by John Hazlehurst
Published: June 12,2010
Thousands of filmgoers attend screenings each year of the area’s three film festivals.
Thousands of filmgoers attend screenings each year of the area’s three film festivals.
The Springs’ film community struggles for notice, support
The Colorado Springs Film Commission’s website says the area’s “film resource community is one of the best-kept secrets in the West!”
One of the more important secrets, according to local filmmaker Pete Schuermann, is that there’s no Colorado Springs Film Commission per se.
“It’s just a phone line at the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau),” said Schuermann. “There really isn’t any local support for film or for filmmakers.”
Despite that, Colorado Springs does have a vibrant and varied, if small, film community.
Three film festivals — the Lavender film festival, the Rocky Mountain Women’s film festival, and Indies Spirit — each screen dozens of films to thousands of attendees every year. Colorado College, UCCS and Pikes Peak Community College sponsor mini-festivals throughout the year. Locally made films are always part of the festival menu.
One such film, “The Last Bogatyr,” directed by 21 year-old UCCS student Sarah Lotfi, has received national recognition. Lotfi was one of nine young filmmakers to be nominated for a Student Academy Award. “The Last Bogatyr,” set in Russia during World War II, was shot on a shoestring budget along the Front Range, and premiered in Colorado Springs in January.
The film was made for almost nothing — an example, says Kevin Shand of the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media, of the “democratization of filmmaking.”
“Technology has democratized filmmaking,” Shand said. “You can shoot a pretty good movie with a $5,000 camera, maybe get it into art houses, on Amazon, on NetFlix, give your investors a decent return, pay your bills, and go on to the next project.”
Schuermann, 45, has done just that — and better.
He’s directed two feature-length films, as well as dozens of shorts, trailers, and commercials. His widely praised documentary “Haze” focused on the dangers of binge drinking on college campuses.
Schuermann is now working on a new feature, “Creep!” It’s the story behind the creation of one of the worst films ever, “The Creeping Terror,” a 1960s sci-fi/horror feature.
The city’s most successful filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens, has worked out of her production studio on the west side for the last 25 years.
Kathrens won multiple Emmys in 1993 for her documentary, “Spirits of the Rainforest.” She’s also well-known for three hour-long films for PBS in which Kathrens documented the birth and life of Cloud, a wild stallion whom she first filmed as a newborn colt in 1995.
Kathrens currently devotes her time to the Cloud foundation, which is dedicated to the protection of wild horses. She’s not working on any film projects, however.
“I’d like to be working,” she said with a laugh, “so if you know of anything, let me know.”
Schuermann hopes for greater support some day from the powers that be.
The lack of money makes that difficult.
“The film commission is only part of my job,” said CVB employee Floy Kennedy. “Our funding has been cut back, like everybody’s.”
More incentives sought
Shand, for one, believes Colorado is losing millions of dollars in economic activity every year because it offers so little in tax incentives to film production companies.
“We’re at the bottom,” he said. “We haven’t written a check in the last two years. A couple of years ago I was talking to a producer, laying out our incentives, and she just said, ‘We’re not coming there’ and hung up.”
They’re not hanging up on states like New Mexico.
In 2002, New Mexico established a film incentive program that offered filmmakers tax rebates, workforce subsidies and even state-funded investment.
The incentives worked, according to a 2009 Ernst & Young analysis.
The program, which offers a 25 percent post-production rebate to moviemakers, created more than 9,000 jobs by attracting “more than 115 major film productions to New Mexico since its adoption,” the accounting firm’s report said.
Colorado, in contrast, offers a 10 percent rebate of certain production costs to companies shooting movies, commercials or television episodes within the state.
Colorado University’s Leeds School of Business earlier this year recommended the state increase the rebate from 10 percent to 15-20 percent to prevent the film production industry from shedding 30 percent of its jobs by 2013.
Despite the study’s prediction that increasing existing incentives would grow industry output by 55 percent to $226 million over the same period, the state legislature made only a few minor tweaks in the program, leaving the rebate at 10 percent.
According to the Leeds study, the legislature’s inaction may cost the state more than 1,500 primary jobs and as many indirect jobs.
Since “Things to do in Denver when you’re Dead” in 1994, only a handful of movies have been shot in Colorado.
Decades ago, Hollywood studios often filmed major productions in Colorado. Iconic American films such as “Stagecoach,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “Downhill Racer” were shot wholly or partially in the state. And half a century ago, “One Minute to Zero,” a wartime drama starring Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth, was filmed entirely in Colorado Springs.
Film incentives are offered by more than 40 states today. New Mexico is the most incentive-laden state in the intermountain West, while Nevada is the least.
Colorado and Colorado Springs aren’t completely shut out of the entertainment business.
The CVB’s Kennedy said the area often hosts film and video productions.
“Most of what we get is reality TV, HGTV episodes, commercials and documentaries,” she said. “Last year, Hyundai filmed a national commercial here.”
A Hyundai commercial is not the apex of filmmaking, of course, but it’s not chopped liver.
“They’ll spend $500,000 to $1 million in a few days, use local resources and the money flows right into the Colorado economy,” Shand said.
Matt Stevens, a principal mover of the Indie Spirit film festival, thinks the state could do more to help, though he seems to understand why it can’t — at least for the moment.
“We got some support from the Downtown Development Authority for the (Indie Spirit) festival,” he said, “and the CVB worked out a trade with the Warehouse (restaurant) to sponsor a dinner, so the out-of-town filmmakers got a free meal.
“(But) given how broke everyone is, I was surprised that they could even do that.
by John Hazlehurst
Published: June 12,2010
Thousands of filmgoers attend screenings each year of the area’s three film festivals.
Thousands of filmgoers attend screenings each year of the area’s three film festivals.
The Springs’ film community struggles for notice, support
The Colorado Springs Film Commission’s website says the area’s “film resource community is one of the best-kept secrets in the West!”
One of the more important secrets, according to local filmmaker Pete Schuermann, is that there’s no Colorado Springs Film Commission per se.
“It’s just a phone line at the CVB (Convention and Visitors Bureau),” said Schuermann. “There really isn’t any local support for film or for filmmakers.”
Despite that, Colorado Springs does have a vibrant and varied, if small, film community.
Three film festivals — the Lavender film festival, the Rocky Mountain Women’s film festival, and Indies Spirit — each screen dozens of films to thousands of attendees every year. Colorado College, UCCS and Pikes Peak Community College sponsor mini-festivals throughout the year. Locally made films are always part of the festival menu.
One such film, “The Last Bogatyr,” directed by 21 year-old UCCS student Sarah Lotfi, has received national recognition. Lotfi was one of nine young filmmakers to be nominated for a Student Academy Award. “The Last Bogatyr,” set in Russia during World War II, was shot on a shoestring budget along the Front Range, and premiered in Colorado Springs in January.
The film was made for almost nothing — an example, says Kevin Shand of the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media, of the “democratization of filmmaking.”
“Technology has democratized filmmaking,” Shand said. “You can shoot a pretty good movie with a $5,000 camera, maybe get it into art houses, on Amazon, on NetFlix, give your investors a decent return, pay your bills, and go on to the next project.”
Schuermann, 45, has done just that — and better.
He’s directed two feature-length films, as well as dozens of shorts, trailers, and commercials. His widely praised documentary “Haze” focused on the dangers of binge drinking on college campuses.
Schuermann is now working on a new feature, “Creep!” It’s the story behind the creation of one of the worst films ever, “The Creeping Terror,” a 1960s sci-fi/horror feature.
The city’s most successful filmmaker, Ginger Kathrens, has worked out of her production studio on the west side for the last 25 years.
Kathrens won multiple Emmys in 1993 for her documentary, “Spirits of the Rainforest.” She’s also well-known for three hour-long films for PBS in which Kathrens documented the birth and life of Cloud, a wild stallion whom she first filmed as a newborn colt in 1995.
Kathrens currently devotes her time to the Cloud foundation, which is dedicated to the protection of wild horses. She’s not working on any film projects, however.
“I’d like to be working,” she said with a laugh, “so if you know of anything, let me know.”
Schuermann hopes for greater support some day from the powers that be.
The lack of money makes that difficult.
“The film commission is only part of my job,” said CVB employee Floy Kennedy. “Our funding has been cut back, like everybody’s.”
More incentives sought
Shand, for one, believes Colorado is losing millions of dollars in economic activity every year because it offers so little in tax incentives to film production companies.
“We’re at the bottom,” he said. “We haven’t written a check in the last two years. A couple of years ago I was talking to a producer, laying out our incentives, and she just said, ‘We’re not coming there’ and hung up.”
They’re not hanging up on states like New Mexico.
In 2002, New Mexico established a film incentive program that offered filmmakers tax rebates, workforce subsidies and even state-funded investment.
The incentives worked, according to a 2009 Ernst & Young analysis.
The program, which offers a 25 percent post-production rebate to moviemakers, created more than 9,000 jobs by attracting “more than 115 major film productions to New Mexico since its adoption,” the accounting firm’s report said.
Colorado, in contrast, offers a 10 percent rebate of certain production costs to companies shooting movies, commercials or television episodes within the state.
Colorado University’s Leeds School of Business earlier this year recommended the state increase the rebate from 10 percent to 15-20 percent to prevent the film production industry from shedding 30 percent of its jobs by 2013.
Despite the study’s prediction that increasing existing incentives would grow industry output by 55 percent to $226 million over the same period, the state legislature made only a few minor tweaks in the program, leaving the rebate at 10 percent.
According to the Leeds study, the legislature’s inaction may cost the state more than 1,500 primary jobs and as many indirect jobs.
Since “Things to do in Denver when you’re Dead” in 1994, only a handful of movies have been shot in Colorado.
Decades ago, Hollywood studios often filmed major productions in Colorado. Iconic American films such as “Stagecoach,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “Downhill Racer” were shot wholly or partially in the state. And half a century ago, “One Minute to Zero,” a wartime drama starring Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth, was filmed entirely in Colorado Springs.
Film incentives are offered by more than 40 states today. New Mexico is the most incentive-laden state in the intermountain West, while Nevada is the least.
Colorado and Colorado Springs aren’t completely shut out of the entertainment business.
The CVB’s Kennedy said the area often hosts film and video productions.
“Most of what we get is reality TV, HGTV episodes, commercials and documentaries,” she said. “Last year, Hyundai filmed a national commercial here.”
A Hyundai commercial is not the apex of filmmaking, of course, but it’s not chopped liver.
“They’ll spend $500,000 to $1 million in a few days, use local resources and the money flows right into the Colorado economy,” Shand said.
Matt Stevens, a principal mover of the Indie Spirit film festival, thinks the state could do more to help, though he seems to understand why it can’t — at least for the moment.
“We got some support from the Downtown Development Authority for the (Indie Spirit) festival,” he said, “and the CVB worked out a trade with the Warehouse (restaurant) to sponsor a dinner, so the out-of-town filmmakers got a free meal.
“(But) given how broke everyone is, I was surprised that they could even do that.
Friday, June 11, 2010
From Paul Steffensen, Master Prop Man
EUE/Screen Gems opens studio near Atlanta
37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March
By Borys Kit
June 4, 2010, 06:12 PM ET
Updated: June 6, 2010, 03:56 PM ET
EUE/Screen Gems is getting into the franchise studio soundstage business.
The company, which has studio facilities in Wilmington, N.C., and New York, is opening a studio complex in Atlanta.
EUE/Screen Gems has leased the 30-acre site of the former Lakewood Fairgrounds near midtown and is beginning a multimillion-dollar renovation of the property. The older Spanish-style buildings will remain intact, but plans call for the development of office space, a mill shop and lighting and grip facilities.
Construction will begin soon on a 37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March; the size will rival the company's Wilmington Stage 10 facility but without that site's water tank.
The company was attracted to Atlanta because of Georgia's 30% tax credit on production and postproduction services for films and TV shows as well as such rising media as gaming and animation. Atlanta also offers direct flights to Los Angeles and New York.
The new studio gives an urban edge to complement the rural and coastal nature of the Wilmington studio, home to the CW series "One Tree Hill" and HBO's "Eastbound & Down" and such films as "Nights in Rodanthe" and "The Secret Life of Bees."
Atlanta has been growing in terms of studio facilities, and the EUE/Screen Gems joins Tyler Perry Studios to vie for top-dog status. TPS is situated on 30 acres on a former Delta Airlines center and boasts more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space.
EUE/Screen Gems opens studio near Atlanta
37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March
37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March
By Borys Kit
June 4, 2010, 06:12 PM ET
Updated: June 6, 2010, 03:56 PM ET
EUE/Screen Gems is getting into the franchise studio soundstage business.
The company, which has studio facilities in Wilmington, N.C., and New York, is opening a studio complex in Atlanta.
EUE/Screen Gems has leased the 30-acre site of the former Lakewood Fairgrounds near midtown and is beginning a multimillion-dollar renovation of the property. The older Spanish-style buildings will remain intact, but plans call for the development of office space, a mill shop and lighting and grip facilities.
Construction will begin soon on a 37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March; the size will rival the company's Wilmington Stage 10 facility but without that site's water tank.
The company was attracted to Atlanta because of Georgia's 30% tax credit on production and postproduction services for films and TV shows as well as such rising media as gaming and animation. Atlanta also offers direct flights to Los Angeles and New York.
The new studio gives an urban edge to complement the rural and coastal nature of the Wilmington studio, home to the CW series "One Tree Hill" and HBO's "Eastbound & Down" and such films as "Nights in Rodanthe" and "The Secret Life of Bees."
Atlanta has been growing in terms of studio facilities, and the EUE/Screen Gems joins Tyler Perry Studios to vie for top-dog status. TPS is situated on 30 acres on a former Delta Airlines center and boasts more than 200,000 square feet of studio and office space.
EUE/Screen Gems opens studio near Atlanta
37,500-square-foot soundstage slated to open in March
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)