Archive for July, 2009
Lawmakers Look to Review Tax Credit for Michigan Filmmakers
Posted by: admin in State/Government Production Incentive News on July 28th, 2009
http://www.9and10news.com/category/story/?id=160666
A tax credit has put Michigan on the filmmaking map for the past year, but now the question: how much longer can the state afford the offer?
There’s no question about it, the incentive has brought dozens of productions to the state. Those filmmakers have pumped a lot of money into Michigan communities.
But lawmakers still have a budget to balance.
The film credit is costing the state millions of dollars in lost revenue. It makes the program an easy target as lawmakers struggle to fill a huge budget deficit.
“I’ve heard that there’s talk from some senators about reviewing the program,” says State Representative Wayne Schmidt. “I think it would be a mistake. What the state needs to do is make sure we can continue the success we’ve had with the film industry.”
Schmidt is referring to the 25 feature films made in Michigan in 2008 with film incentive program in place. That’s compared to just three films made in 2007 without the program.
One local filmmaker says it would be a “severe blow” if the program gets eliminated.
“I do know this,” says Filmmaker Matthew Kinne. “If it’s compromised in anyway, filmmakers will run away from the state to take their film elsewhere.”
Kinne plans to apply for a tax credit this fall for a film he’s working on right now. He hopes to shoot the film in Traverse City.
Brad Van Dommelen, the President of the Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau, also believes any potential cuts to the program are “premature.”
“The impact of a production in a community is felt very deep and very wide,” he says. “And those are things that really need to be considered when you look at what the potential is for the film industry in our state.”
La.’s growing film industry boosts need for student actors
Posted by: admin in General Industry News, United States Industry News on July 28th, 2009
http://www.lsureveille.com/news/la-s-growing-film-industry-boosts-need-for-student-actors-1.1787352
Movie sets are becoming a more common sight throughout Louisiana, and more students are using the growing film industry as an opportunity to both make ends meet and pursue their dreams.
Many students find the easiest way to get involved in the industry is as an extra, said Andrei Constantenescu, extra casting manager for Glorioso Casting, which is based in Shreveport.
Extras are typically hired through Web sites like Craigslist.com and paid to play normal people found in the scene’s background.
“The extras are the atmosphere of the film,” Constantenescu said. “A movie would not look good or right or have any sense of reality without extras.”
Normal extras are typically paid $50 to $100 for a day of work depending on the budget size of the production. That day could entail waiting around for 17 hours until the director needs the extra, said Hank Langlois of Redflix casting.
“The first time I just wanted to see what a movie set was like,” said Ryan Sands, theatre studies senior. “I just wanted to see what all goes into a movie, so it was interesting. But when I did my second extras job, I was actually strapped for cash.”
Some extras are chosen to fill featured extra roles which may entail a specific look or speaking role. These featured extra spots typically get paid $100 to $150 a day, said Carol Bloodworth of Fruition Talent and Media talent Agency.
Sands described waiting to be used as the most difficult part of extra work.
“It was really easy days especially for featured extras,” Sands said. “All we did was stand around and cheer occasionally … and we got paid a little more than $500 in four days. The most difficult part of the job is keeping yourself entertained because you are there for a minimum of 12 hours each day.”
Daniel Lachman, photography senior, started as an extra and has progressed to higher paying jobs on the film set.
“I payed for my car and a lot of my photo equipment through film, so [the film industry] has been a major contributor to my livelihood,” Lachman said. “Something like a restaurant waiter job is really steady. But in film, it’s freelance, so you can only work on a film while it is shooting. So you make a lot of money is spurts whereas a waiter makes money constantly. But I would say there is more money in film than the average student job.”
While he does admit that the pay is great when working on film, Lachman said he is often exposed to the “dark side” of the industry.
“It’s really a messed up industry,” Lachman said. “There are a lot of delusions of grandeur.
But there are often unexpected highlights to working on film that make it better than the average student job, Lachman said.
“I worked as an extra in ‘Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay’ in Shreveport, and there is a scene that has either a bottomless or topless pool party depending on which scene on the DVD you choose to watch,” Lachman said. “But I worked as one of the five guys on that scene, and there were 30 naked women on the set. So it was a pretty interesting experience to be around 30 naked women for two nights … and getting paid $200 a night for it.”
Sands said one of his favorite parts of being an extra was the opportunity to interact with different actors.
“The late, great Bernie Mac was on set for a film I did a few years back,” Sands said. “He was really cool like one of those guys who was always goofing around with the cast and making sure people were not bored.”
Lachman said he is considering pursuing a career in cinematography.
“I have aspirations to work in what they call ‘above-the-line jobs’ like cinematographer, director, producers — basically the jobs that have the creative outlet,” Lachman said.
Amy Dyess, creative writing senior, also plans to turn her experience working on film into a career. Dyess works in those above-the-line aspects of film and has worked in Los Angeles. Dyess also won Best of Film in the University’s Digital Media Festival during the spring semester.
Dyess is a film and media arts minor and said the University is adding more classes with a film aspect to the curriculum.
“As long as the state and people demand that we keep up with our film industry tax incentives, film studies will continue to evolve at LSU,” Dyess said. “I see more and more interesting classes that involve film aspects … even in architecture … which you study the architecture in great films and how to incorporate architecture into your film.”
Chris Spellman is a University graduate and has worked in the art department for films like ‘Knocked Up,’ ‘Superbad’ and ‘Pineapple Express’ in Los Angeles and Louisiana.
“Students have a great opportunity right at their doorstep and all they have to do is make some phone calls and opportunities, and the film industry are remarkably right there,” Spellman said. “For people who are coming out of college and looking the economy the way it is and the world’s state of affairs, you can still go out and pursue your dreams. I am a living example of that.”
25 film, TV productions among first to get California tax credits
Posted by: admin in Los Angeles/Hollywood/California Industry News, State/Government Production Incentive News, United States Industry News on July 28th, 2009
California’s effort to woo film and TV productions that have been fleeing to other states has netted its first results.
The California Film Commission on Monday announced that 25 productions had been awarded tax credits, which refund 20% or 25% of all spending in the state on so-called below-the-line employees, Hollywood parlance for behind-the-scenes crew.
Fifty-nine movies and TV shows applied for the credits once they became available on July 1. Almost all of them filed on that day, since the credits are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications that arrive on the same day are ranked randomly.
The state is awarding $67.5 million in tax credits for the 25 productions. Amy Lemisch, director of the CFC, said those movies and TV shows will spend $347 million on below-the-line employees. Lemisch said she was confident the vast majority of that money would otherwise not have been spent in California.
“Based on my talking to these producers for some quite some time before they even applied, I’m confident most of these would not have shot here without the incentives,” she said.
The CFC has $32.5 million left to award in tax credits for the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2010. But Lemisch is allowed to award credits from future fiscal years for current productions at her discretion.
Though they’re being awarded now, the first tax credits won’t be issued until January of 2011.
California’s tax credits, where were approved in February, are relatively small compared to some other states, but many in the industry have said they are critical as productions such as “Ugly Betty,” “Deal or No Deal” and “Terminator: Salvation” have shot in other states with tax credits. California’s share of feature-film production has dropped from 66% in 2003 to 31% last year, according to the CFC. The effect on California entertainment employment has been severe.
Productions using the credits include CBS Films’ action flick “Faster”; DreamWorks’ comedy “Dinner With Schmucks,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen; and Sony’s upcoming movie about the founding of Facebook, “The Social Network.”
Comedy Central’s “Important Things With Demetri Martin” is using a credit to help it move production from New York.
There’s even a direct-to-DVD sequel from Disney that looks sure to increase employment among California dog trainers: “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2.”
– Ben Fritz
Hollywood slump puts famous props on the block
Posted by: admin in United States Industry News on July 28th, 2009
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/07/28/hollywood.prop.sale/
CNN
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Harvey Schwartz spent the past 40 years collecting antiques, art and odd items that he rented to TV and movie studios as props and set decorations.
During a tour of his huge North Hollywood, California, warehouse, Schwartz, owner of 20th Century Props, opened a morgue vault door, revealing the legs of a crusty corpse, built for the “X-Files” TV series.
“Fun piece,” he said with a smile. “Love the sound effects.”
Schwartz must now sell everything — including a submarine, a fake nuclear warhead and Austin Powers’ cryogenic chamber — at auction because of a dramatic decline in Hollywood productions over the past year.
“I guess it would be the end of Hollywood as I know it and for everyone, because there won’t be any place to get all these products again,” Schwartz said.
While 2009 has been a good year at the box office, more production is leaving Los Angeles for states that offer tax incentives unmatched by California.
“It’s very, very tough,” said Jack Kyser, economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Commission. “If you are doing feature film production, you are probably going to go out of state because 44 other states have been offering incentives for feature film productions. California just started their incentive program.”
With companies spending less on advertising in a down economy, broadcast TV is suffering and people who make commercials have less work, Kyser said.
The writers’ strike last year and the stalled actors union contract talks added to the slowdown, and it’s getting even tougher for struggling young actors and writers pursuing their Hollywood dreams, he said.
“We have a slang phrase: ‘There’s a lot of WAMs out there: waiters, actors, models’,” Kyser said. “And if you go to restaurants you see the wait staff is looking better and better all the time, physically.”
Stephon Fuller, an actor who moved to Los Angeles 11 years ago, said, “It’s never been this quiet for me.” Still, Fuller said he expected auditions for new roles to pick up later in the summer.
On-location film shoots dropped 25 percent overall in the first half of the year, including a 50 percent loss in feature film production in Los Angeles, according to a group that helps process filming permits.
“If you are doing a feature film you have to rent equipment, you have to rent props,” Kyser said “If you go out on location you have to rent a truck to take you there, you have to have a location caterer, and all these people are feeling the pain.”
Schwartz, 67, started suffering last year with a 40 percent drop in business, and it has gotten worse in recent months.
“I just can’t hold on any longer,” he said. “I’ve run out of money.”
An auctioneer will begin the long process of selling everything Tuesday morning.
“I talk lightly that I have 93,752 pieces under this roof, but it doesn’t really strike a note until you start putting a little auction lot number on each piece or a bunch of pieces.”
Potential bidders have registered from dozens of countries, and hundreds are expected to show up at the warehouse, Schwartz said.
Visitors can be overwhelmed by what they see in Schwartz’ warehouse.
The largest item on the block is a 162-foot-long submarine built for “Down Periscope,” a 1996 comedy starring Kelsey Grammer. It’s not seaworthy — since it actually never left a movie sound stage — and it will be an expensive job moving it.
Complete with torpedoes, it has been used in several TV productions in recent years, Schwartz said.
The nuclear warhead John Travolta used in his 1996 film “Broken Arrow” will also be sold, along with the cryogenic tube used to preserve the Mike Myers character in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” an identical tube that housed a frozen Gary Coleman and Dr. Evil’s escape egg.
Fans of Beyonce can bid on the giant champagne glass the singer bathed in for her “Naughty Girl” music video in 2003. The inventory also includes a large drill used by Ben Affleck and Bruce Willis in the 1998 film “Armageddon.”
A spaceship built in 1959 for a “Twilight Zone” episode and used in Will Smith’s “Men in Black 2″ hangs in the warehouse.
Schwartz is also selling the metal chair used to strap down a naked Natasha Henstridge in an unforgettable scene from the movie “Species.”
Schwartz has also collected thousands of pieces of vintage furniture, including art deco bedroom sets and office desks that were used on movie sets.
Schwartz, who wrote a book about rattan furniture, points with pride to a set made famous by its weekly exposure on the “Golden Girl’s.” Nearby is a rattan chair seen with Marlon Brando in “The Godfather.”
Schwartz has an endless selection of vintage lamps, scones and chandeliers — including those made for “Titanic.”
“Yeah, it’s all going to be sold to collectors,” he said. “This is the first time in 60 years that Hollywood has had a big sale like this, where they’ve dissipated Hollywood props to all parts of the planet.”
Schwartz shakes his head, wondering how studios will find their props if and when production gears up again in Hollywood.
On-location filming permits in Los Angeles fall 15% for the week
Posted by: admin in Los Angeles/Hollywood/California Industry News, Studio/Network News, United States Industry News on July 26th, 2009
Permits for on-location feature film shooting continued to bounce back last week from year-ago levels when production activity was curtailed because of uncertainty stemming from the actors contract talks. But overall production days nonetheless were down 15%, according to FilmLA, which coordinates on-location film permits.
Total production days fell to 561 for TV, film and commercial on-location shooting for the week ending July 12, compared to 659 for the same week last year (one production day is defined as a single crew’s permission to film a single project at a single location during a 24-hour period). Film permits increased to 37 from 28, but permits for TV fell to 72 from 94, and permits for commercials fell to 34 from 35.
Among the TV series that were filming on location are “The Mentalist” (San Perdro), “Criminal Minds,” “Numb3rs,” “The Sarah Silverman Program,” and “Surviving Disaster.” Commercials include spots for ESPN and Cadillac, while movies included the thriller “Columbus Circle,” starring Selma Blair, Beau Bridges and Jason Lee.
– L.A. Times staff
EU approves Italian tax incentives to film industry
Posted by: admin in Europe Industry News, State/Government Production Incentive News on July 26th, 2009
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iN4Xz4SvRcoEbV3UJxGfJZGI0i6Q
BRUSSELS — The European Commission approved Thursday a package of tax incentives that Italy wants to introduce to bolster investment in the film industry.
However the commission, which polices competition issues in the 27-nation EU, announced an investigation into a tax credit for digital projection equipment which it suspects would mainly benefit big cinema chains.
The tax incentives — worth 82 million euros (117 million dollars) — are aimed at encouraging businesses outside the film sector and distributors within it to invest in European cultural films.
“The incentives aim to stimulate investment from outside the film production sector into European cultural films and to support the distribution of such films,” a statement said.
The probe concerned a proposed 30 percent tax credit for installing digital projection equipment in Italian cinemas. Brussels fears the measure may mainly benefit large multiplexes which should need less support.
By opening the in-depth investigation, the commission allows interested third parties such as small cinemas to comment on the proposed tax measure.
Hollywood, here they come!
Posted by: admin in Training & School News on July 26th, 2009
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090726/GJNEWS_01/707269905
By GAIL OBER
Making movies isn’t just kid stuff at upcoming summer camps for budding filmmakers.
Kid Filmmakers, a Rhode Island-based year-round filmmaking academy for children, plans four camps in New Hampshire featuring two distinct sessions to be held in Portsmouth and Tilton.
“Summer shoot” is a working movie production unit in which youths ages 10 to 15 will make their own movies. “Animation vacation” will focus on special effects, cartooning, claymation and storyboarding.
“The kids will do all the acting, script writing, editing, sound and lighting,” said Marianne Bornkessel, the regional coordinator for Kid Filmmakes.
Bornkessel took a tour of the Granite Media Center in Tilton last week.
They’ll make four to five short films during the week of day camp, to include a documentary, a commercial and a feature-like short. Everything except a brown-bag lunch is provided by Kid Filmmakers.
Founded in Newport, R.I., Kid Filmmakers is in its eighth year, but Bornkessel said this is the first year they have expanded into New Hampshire. Camp instructors are film industry specialists from New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
“This sounds like a fun thing,” said Laconia High School multimedia teacher Jill Lessard, who retired nearly four years ago from a career in television advertising and promotions and who worked for both ABC and CBS in California. “You know, youth today is genetically hard-wired for media. And it’s not just television, print and computers separately, it’s the whole package and how they work together.”
She said a multimedia education, as well as the chance to participate in a camp like Kid Filmmakers, is more than just teaching someone how to “make a movie.”
“It’s an invaluable experience for a child to learn what goes into his or her world, and if they can start at this age, it only helps them better understand life as they know it,” she said.
According to Matt Newton, the director of the New Hampshire Film and Television Office in Concord, the state is putting a great deal of effort into its burgeoning film and television industry.
“New England is rapidly becoming “Hollywood East,” said Newton, who like Lessard was born in New England and had a career in Hollywood before marrying and returning to New Hampshire to raise a family. “There’s an exodus from California.”
He said facilities like the Granite Media Center are examples of forward thinking in the state’s film industry.
He said teaching youths to love and appreciate filmmaking, and hopefully, to keep them here when they become professionals, is one of the keys to developing New Hampshire’s media industry.
A graduate of Keene State College, Newton said its film program was in its infancy when he attended, but is now one of the premier programs in New England.
“Today’s employers look for creativity,” said Van McLeod, New Hampshire Commissioner of Cultural Resources. “These kids will be thrown into an environment when they have to cooperate with each other and think outside the box. It also allows them to get a de-structured look at our changing media at an early age.”
Both Mcleod and Newton said New Hampshire is rapidly earning a reputation as being friendly to independent film producers and as being a state that supports its own filmmakers. They said the camp experience will be invaluable whether or not any of the youths actually works in the film industry.
“Maybe one of these kids will develop the newest thing in communications technology and make millions, be the next Alfred Hitchcock or even make movies, but either way, this camp should help them find their passion,” McLeod said.
For Joel Plagenz of the Players Ring, this is his organization’s first foray into film, and he said his board couldn’t be more excited.
“We have a long history in live theater, but we welcome Kid Filmmakers,” he said. “And it is in the spirit of local art.”
Eliza Leadbeater of the Granite Media Center said her organization is thrilled to host the camp. She sees it as a great opportunity to expose young people to media technology.
Summer Shoot will be held Aug. 3-7 at the Players Ring in Portsmouth and on Aug. 10-14 at the Granite Media Center. It will go from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Animation Vacation will be Aug. 17-21 at the Granite Media Center and Aug. 24-28 at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth.
The cost is $295, and there is a buy-one-get-one-at-half-price special. Each camp has room for 15 to 20 children.
For more information, visit www.kidfilmmakers.com or call Marianne Bornkessel at 534-3934.
Directors Worry: DVDs Down, Piracy Up, Industry Is Defensive
Posted by: admin in General Industry News, Studio/Network News on July 25th, 2009
http://www.thewrap.com/article/directors-worry-dvds-down-piracy-industry-defensive_4583
Despite the fanfare surrounding the unveiling of their new films “Avatar” and “District 9″ at Comic-Con this past week, James Cameron and Peter Jackson say they’re saddened by the current state of the film industry.
“I think at the moment it’s a strange time to be a filmmaker, because there’s a sense of depression in the industry,” Jackson said in a panel Friday evening in Hall H, where he was joined by Cameron to talk about their work as filmmakers.
“Studios feel DVDs are down and piracy is up, and the entire industry is being as defensive as they possibly can, which leads to movies not being as exciting as they possibly can be.”
“We have all these really big franchises that are these cash machines and studios feel they have to play this conservative game,” Cameron said. “Movies get paid for by DVDs as well, and we may be at a point right now where the movies you and I like to make aren’t possible. In years to come, they’ll have to be lesser in terms of scope, which doesn’t rule out films like ‘Twilight,’ but epic pictures may not be possible to make unless we can figure out how we can make CG for a lot cheaper.”
Jackson, whose plan to develop a film based on the “Halo” game franchise recently fell through the cracks, said he believes young people are more interested in playing video games than going to the movies.
“When I was 14, I knew when movies were coming out and when to expect them, and now my son is doing the same thing with video games,” he said. “Certainly, the entertainment options for young people are a lot broader and I think there’s always an audience for film. But now the quality of film is slightly down, and we need to remember how to be original again so there can be more risk taking and it’ll surge back up again.”
That being said, the filmmaker says there’s one aspect of the digital generation he can’t understand: why teens would opt to watch his films on MP3 players or laptops.
“If that’s how they want to experience it, there’s nothing you can do to influence that,” he said. “It’s a choice. Like when you go to Paris, and as a souvenir you get a crappy little postcard. … The iPod is the postcard of the film experience.”
Cameron devoted much time to talking about belief in the future of 3D technology, and said he plans to convert “Titanic” into 3D, but expects that process will take a year to 18 months to complete.
“It’s something that’s very timely, and we need it now to create theatricality and showmanship,” he said, adding that he doesn’t believe “feelies” or “smell-o-vision” will ever take off.
He does think there’s potential in speeding up the frame rate that images are played back on screen from 24 frames per second to 48.
Jackson hopes to make the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy 3D, but says those designs are being hindered by Warner Brothers, who now controls the rights to the films.
“They feel there’s not enough 3D cinemas, but there will be in two years when it’s finished because we’ve got three two-hour movies to convert,” he said.
Cameron says it will take films like Jackson’s being released in 3D to send a signal to consumer electronics manufacturers to start making more home entertainment systems for the technology. That way, he said, “studios don’t have to worry about theatrical revenue for conversion and can think about home revenue as well.”
“It’s a self-propelling loop, and fortune favors the bold. And Warner Brothers needs to show a pair of balls,” Cameron stated bluntly.
He raved as well about the advancements in performance capture technology, which he used in his upcoming sci-fi film “Avatar.” The technology allows computers to capture 100 percent of the physical performances of actors, and animators later draw in the world of the animated film around the characters. For example, Cameron said, Will Smith could make a movie when he’s 75, but could appear on screen as looks at his current age if he chose to.
“It doesn’t replace the actors, it empowers them,” Cameron said. “After years of putting rubber makeup on people’s face, this gives you a much purer performance because every nuance and moment of their creation on set is preserved.”
Looking ahead, Jackson said he’s busy at work with Steven Spielberg developing the “TinTin” films.
“We are taking on the challenge of taking these designs with a wonderfully distinctive style and turning that into a 3D world … we are making them organic, and giving them a sense of proportion.”
As for his future, Cameron want to stick to big-budget flicks with the latest technology over small passion projects, like “District 9″ was for Jackson.
“I understand the attraction to it … but I got my yayas out by doing documentaries,” he said. “There’s a zone between what’s been done and what’s impossible now but will be possible in a year. And that’s where I want to be, because that’s what no one has done before.”
RP film industry faces great depression
Posted by: admin in Philippines Industry News on July 25th, 2009
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/entertainment/07/25/09/rp-film-industry-faces-great-depression
By Boy Villasanta, abs-cbnNEWS.com
The true picture of the nation is also reflected in the current state of the local entertainment industry, beyond its glitter and glamour.
Perhaps, no amount of a real State of the Nation Address (SONA) can best express the grim reality of society than the problems faced by show business.
It’s just the beginning of the first half of the third quarter of 2009 and only 10 Filipino films, in 35mm, have been screened in commercial movie houses, unlike in the sixties and seventies when hundreds would already have been shown at this time. Meanwhile, 87 foreign films have been released.
Many digital films, 32 as of this writing, have been produced and shown regularly in a handful of movie houses and non-traditional outlets like schools, museums, art galleries.
Jose N. Carreon, director and producer, says no digital film has ever made money, so far, unlike conventional commercial productions.
Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association Chairman Manny Nuqui shares that only about 10 percent of their members have been producing films.
Nuqui clarifies that films meant for movie houses are still the ones making money, and not yet the digital films.
Based on the low number of films produced, many believe the industry is dead. But entertainment analyst Pol del Mundo believes otherwise. “Hindi patay ang local movie industry. Maraming indie productions.”
Employment
Contrary to government claims that jobs are aplenty, many movie extras, directors, stuntmen, artisans, supporting and lead stars, are actually jobless, says Pablo Vergara, vice-president of the United Musical Directors Association of the Philippines.
Corix Mercado, 47, a veteran stuntman and a part-time driver for TV and film services, says there are than 1,000 old hands, lowly movie workers, who are starving.
“Ako, nakikitira lang sa nanay ko sa squatters area, wala akong regular na trabaho,” he says wearily, after realizing he doesn’t have money for jeepney fare to bring him home. He says he will probably sleep the night away in a stall around Tropical Hut in Scout Borromeo and Panay Avenue in Quezon City where showbiz extras mill around, waiting for manna from heaven.
“Wala akong maiuuwi sa nanay ko na pambili man lang kahit isang kilong bigas,” adds Mercado.
However, he acknowledges that the flourishing television industry is giving roles to many extras, but he argues that these actors are new in the field.
Another piece of good news: lawyer Esperidion Laxa, director-general of the Film Academy of the Philippines, says that a bill has been passed by both chambers reducing the entertainment tax from 40% to 10% from 40%. The bill is pending signature by President Arroyo.
Censorship
In last year’s SONA, President Arroyo exalted educational reforms being implemented by the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education. These agencies work hand in hand on the development of arts and culture.
Film appreciation is one course being introduced in the curriculum, which includes the issue of the fundamental right to freedom of expression. But how many art films have been censored due to the arbitrariness of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board?
“Under the present dispensation, there are many violations of civil rights, such as free expression, which is preserved in our Constitution. Last year alone, I was a victim of state arbitrary regulation on my film ‘Serbis,’” says director Brillante Mendoza.
Mendoza is this year’s winner of the prestigious Palm d’Or at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival for his “Kinatay (The Execution of P),” a gloomy look at corruption in Philippine politics and the military.
Controversial filmmaker Jowee Morel is bitter about the state of the local film industry.
“Our government agencies on the film business are very oppressive and elitist. They don’t really serve small-time film producers because of the heavy levy imposed on us. Instead of encouraging independent filmmakers, they kill their spirit by soaring fees on registration for classification, for instance,” Morel says.
Favoritism on access to government funds for independent film making is also a sorry tale, says Morel. “There is still red tape in the bureaucracy.”
Actress Maria Isabel Lopez also laments the sad state of affairs in the film industry. “Pag hindi ka mag-lick ng ass of the powers-that-be, wala ka.”
Threat to mass media
This year’s SONA, says Julie L. Po, chairman of the Concerned Artists of the Philippines (CAP), could pose a serious threat to local mass media if there is a push by administration allies for House Bill 1109.
The bill, she says, can further undermine Philippine identity and culture as it will allow foreign ownership of mass media, schools and advertising firms.
“It is a sell out of our national patrimony and economy. If we are reduced to too much poverty, our culture, the entertainment industry is affected,” says Po.
The provision in the 1987 Constitution, which restricts the ownership of the mass media and advertising industries to Filipinos, was removed from the bill.
“Ang mangyayari niyan, mas maraming escapist na entertainment like Cinderella ang mapapanood sa TV. Ngayon ngang hindi pa approved ‘yong bill, escapist na ang napapanood natin sa TV, what more kung foreign controlled na ito?” warns Maria Victoria Deocampo of CAP.
Czech Movie Industry Loses Business to Hungary
Posted by: admin in Europe Industry News on July 25th, 2009
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124838757272177229.html
Budapest Lures Foreign Film Productions With Tax Incentives and Rebates
By LEOS ROUSEK
Scouting for a location to film a lavish new “Star Wars” live-action television series, filmmaker George Lucas says the Czech Republic probably won’t get his business.
A few years ago, it might have, thanks to a well-established reputation as a low-cost, high-quality Central European film production haven. But now neighboring countries, particularly Hungary, are offering superior tax incentives along with workers of comparable quality.
“As a producer, I will always go to the country that has the best crew coupled with the most tax incentives,” Mr. Lucas said in an interview conducted via email.
It’s a blow to the Czech Republic, as it scrambles to climb out of an economic downturn, that a domestic film industry that gave birth to “Amadeus” and “A Knight’s Tale” among other movies is being sidelined as Mr. Lucas and other film industry moguls who had worked there in the past opt for locations in other European countries.
The Czech Republic began losing film-industry business in 2004, when scrappy Hungary seized the moment to jump-start a film industry virtually from scratch by creating tax breaks to attract moviemakers; some other European countries, including France, which had previously focused on domestic movie-making, followed suit.
Czechs have been known for movie-making since film’s early days, and the country’s film schools have churned out a steady stream of highly skilled professionals, including Milos Forman, who won Academy Awards for best director of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus.”
By 2008, money spent by foreign film producers in the Czech Republic had fallen a stunning 85% to $40 million from $270 million in the peak year of 2003, according to financial consultancy EEIP. Back then, U.S. and U.K. producers channeled about 5% of their annual spending on English-language films and TV shows to the Czech film industry; this fell to barely 1% last year, according to the Czech Audiovisual Producer’s Association.
If 2008 was bad, this year looks dire.
“No major Hollywood or any other big international production has come here yet this year,” said Jasmina Torbati, a producer at Centralscope, a film company, based at the well-known Prague Barrandov film studios.
The rapid evolution of Hungary’s film industry is a lesson in shrewd tax and industrial planning: In 2004, when the local incentive plan was launched, foreign filmmakers spent $21 million in Hungary, compared with nothing a year earlier. By 2005, Hungary had caught up with the Czech Republic: Foreign producers spent $85 million in each country, according to an EEIP study commissioned by the Czech Ministry of Culture. It was in 2007 that Home Box Office Inc., a unit of Time Warner Inc., chose to film the Tom Hanks-produced TV miniseries, “John Adams” in Hungary.
Last year, filmmakers spent about $250 million in Hungary, including about $150 million by foreign companies, according to the country’s Motion Picture Public Foundation. The government returned about $20 million in the form of rebates to foreign and domestic filmmakers alike.
Hungary recently upped the ante: Under new rules, the government now reimburses filmmakers for 25% of spending outside the country on a given movie. For example, spending on postproduction work carried out in London or Los Angeles on a film originally shot in Hungary can be offset. Hungary’s local incentive program originally centered only on cash rebates of 20% of all local expenditure by filmmakers.
“The legislation aims to enable the Hungarian film industry to succeed amid the rise in economic and cultural competition,” said Judit Bor Varadi, an official at Hungary’s Ministry of Culture and Education. “It’s an appropriate answer to the challenges Hungary faces because of its geography and language constraints, and small audiovisual market.”
The incentive program has helped to lure such productions to the country as Miramax’s “The Debt,” with Helen Mirren, Universal’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” and Atlas Entertainment’s “Season of the Witch,” with Nicolas Cage.
“The dynamics have changed: productions used to look at Prague first and then at Hungary; now they look at Hungary first and then at Prague,” said Howard Ellis, owner and managing director of Budapest-based Mid Atlantic Films, which served as a local production partner for HBO on “John Adams.”
Over the years, spending by foreign filmmakers — measured on a per-production basis — at Mid Atlantic “ranged between as little as $8 million and as high as $30 million,” Mr. Ellis said. “And I can say that all our clients, ever since 2005, have received the full 20% of the value spent.”
Czech politicians from both sides of the political divide said they might reconsider their reluctance to provide incentives for foreign film producers. Until recently they saw little reason to support the film industry, which is based in Prague, a city with the lowest unemployment level in the country. Incentives were considered tools to help manufacturing in high-unemployment areas.
Earlier this month, during the opening of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival — the Czech Republic’s largest — leaders of the country’s two main political parties pledged to push for the launching of film-industry incentives after general elections, due in early October.
“Among other aspects, [foreign film production] helps improve the country’s export-import balance,” said Mirek Topolanek, a former prime minister and chairman of the Civic Democrats, the largest center-right Czech party. Mr. Topolanek’s cabinet resigned after losing a parliamentary vote of confidence in April. The country is currently run by a caretaker cabinet.
Vitezslav Jandak, shadow minister of culture and a member of the center-left Social Democratic Party, the Civic Democrats’ main rival, echoed Mr. Topolanek’s call to look into incentives. “It’s rare that the two major rival political parties agree on something,” said Mr. Jandak, “but there is a need to support the film industry.”
In 2003, foreign filmmakers’ expenditures in the Czech Republic accounted for about 0.4% of all exports, which totaled $76 billion. In 2008, the share dropped to 0.04% on the total exports of $132 billion.
To be sure, the Czech economy, centered on car and electronics manufacturing, doesn’t depend on its tiny film industry. The film sector employs about 4,000 people, including those employed indirectly, for example in the hospitality industry, according to EEIP.
Government incentives to prop up the industry would create as many as 11,000 jobs, EEIP estimates. In comparison, Czech car and automobile-parts makers directly employ more than 150,000 people. But in the current economic environment, every new job counts.
The global film industry has long enjoyed tax rebates and other financial incentives from governments eager to inspire tourism and provide a fillip to economies more traditionally based on industry or agriculture. More than 20 countries — and more than 40 U.S. states — have tax rebates or deductibles equal to around 20% of film budgets, says Barbara Rosenfeld, a tax lawyer and a consultant at Entertainment Partners, which advises filmmakers on tax breaks.
Ms. Rosenfeld said governments seeking to attract filmmakers can no longer rely on simply offering highly skilled crews and professional studio facilities at a reasonable cost.
“Even France, which I never believed would do so, began offering incentives to attract foreign filmmakers,” she said, referring to a tax rebate for international productions, approved by French lawmakers this month. France had been known for protecting its own film industry rather than catering to foreign film producers, Ms. Rosenfeld added.
In the Czech Republic, productions have been dwindling. In 2007, producers of “The Wolfman,” an $85 million horror movie remake of the 1941 classic of the same name, chose the U.K. to film the soon-to-be-released movie, which stars Benicio del Toro and Emily Blunt, citing the Czech Republic’s lack of filming incentives. The EEIP study estimated the lost revenue for Czech filmmakers was $24 million.
Mr. Lucas has chosen the Czech Republic for smaller projects. The filmmaker and his executive producer, Rick McCallum, recently completed the filming of “Red Tails,” a low-budget movie about African-American fighter pilots during World War II, in which locations in the Czech Republic doubled for Italy.
With a budget of $25 million, “Red Tails” was relatively inexpensive to make for Lucasfilm, Mr. Lucas’s production company, and Mr. McCallum said the high skill level of Czech film crews overcame the lack of tax breaks.
But this likely won’t be enough for the “Star Wars” television series, with a planned budget of $100 million to $150 million annually to shoot about 100 episodes over four years, Mr. McCallum said. “I had a wonderful experience on ‘Red Tails,’ but in order to bring a larger production to the Czech Republic, the government would need to be competitive with other countries’ tax incentives,” Mr. Lucas said.
Meanwhile, Czech film workers are jobless or finding employment elsewhere.
“I haven’t been on a single film job for over a year,” said Michal Pokorny, a Czech movie props manager. “I still keep my options open in case things get better,” he said.
Ladislav Lahoda, 59, a veteran Czech stuntman who doubled for Anthony Hopkins in “Bad Company,” hasn’t landed a major English-language film job since 2007. Business isn’t much better for the agency he owns, Filmka, which employs about 60 fellow stuntmen. Past jobs included “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and “Hellboy.”
Petra Novotna, a stuntwoman and horse trainer who can boast doubling for Nicole Kidman in “Cold Mountain,” has avoided the local industry downturn by moving wherever films are shot. She has worked in Australia, Romania, the U.S. and the U.K. She currently works as a horse groom on the set of “Nottingham,” directed by Ridley Scott, in England.
“I’m lucky in that I’ve not been hit by the lack of work in the Czech Republic,” Ms. Novotna said.
—Margit Feher in Budapest contributed to this article.