#Film and TV Tax Credits

[news-buzz]

Why Los Angeles Is Becoming a Production Graveyard News Buzz

For years, Gordon Ramsay and his hit MasterChef franchise called a converted soundstage in Los Angeles home. From there, contestants crisscrossed the 30-mile zone where Hollywood holds court to film on location at glitzy mansions and Michelin-starred restaurants. Tens of millions of dollars flowed into the economy across the Fox show’s 14 seasons. Enter Australia, which has aggressively been…

[recentlyheardcom]

Los Angeles Film and TV Production Falls to Historic Lows

Los Angeles’ film permitting office is ringing the alarm about low production levels after shooting in the region saw another decline. The three-month period from July to September logged the weakest quarter so far this year, slipping 5 percent to roughly 5,000 shoot days, according to the latest report from FilmLA. The figure falls short of shooting in the area during the same time last year,…

[mistyheartrbs]

something else i thought was really interesting about i saw the tv glow was the way that there's never really talk about like...the pink opaque as fiction/the pink opaque as a creative work - which makes perfect sense since within the movie as a fable, the pink opaque is a metaphor and is moreover more real than "reality," but on the fandom-engagement level it stood out to me!

i'm again speaking from experiences about a generation removed from the 90s/early aughts era and i think there's very much something to be said of modern fandom and the way it's moved into this weird space of desiring validation/"canonicity" from showrunners, much to do with the ease of accessibility to those people. two kids in the jersey suburbs in the 1990s wouldn't be able to just reach out to the pink opaque writers the way that a contemporary audience can dm/reply to/etc. showrunners on social media etc now. but even so, it's a glaring sort of absence - when we see the pink opaque opening theme, the character names show up where you'd expect actor names (and where actor names do show up in the buffy theme, which was a major inspiration). we don't know how long it's been on the air or who created it or where "the county" even is (because it doesn't matter, because the suburbs are the same everywhere forever)

we know it's at least a pseudo-popular series - it runs for five seasons, and merch exists (the episode guide maddy has in the beginning) - but because the film is essentially a two-hander we don't see a wider world engaging with it. because isn't that how it always is? the story is what you make it.

and the streaming version in the third act pushes this even further - it's a different show entirely, again because isttvg is a fable, it's not a literal movie, and it pushes you against a literalist reading. it's different because owen/isabel is miserable and can't even take solace in this thing she loved anymore. it's different because if you watch something alone it's a world away from watching it with your friend. it's different because somebody ripped out its heart.

[eddiediaaz]

hi guys, i am kind of ashamed and embarrassed to have to do this, but i figured it can't hurt to ask. basically i am really struggling right now (i know a lot of us are). i need financial help, so i set up a ko-fi page ☕

any kind of help would be so appreciated and i am so grateful for anyone taking the time to read this little post.

long story short: because of situations completely out of my control, i lost my job in vfx after almost 8 years and i am now forced to switch careers. i'm going back to school and can't find a part time job even tho i have been working non stop for 15 years. financial aid will only cover my rent, so i absolutely need to work 20 to 30 hours a week to cover the rest of my living expenses, but it's really hard to find a job. i am also currently over 10k cad in debt from my film school loans and credit cards.

signal boost would be appreciated, if you can 💕

my situation in more details under the cut for those who are curious

i was working in the vfx industry as a 2D compositor since 2016 (i have worked on over 40 films and tv shows), but in december of 2023 i lost my job due to the hollywood strikes (as expected, and as it should—i fully support the strikes). this was supposed to be temporary for a couple months where i could get unemployment benefits (only 45% of my usual salary though). unfortunately, on may 31st 2024, my government announced that they are significantly cutting the funding & tax credits for the vfx industry where i live. what does this mean? mass lay offs. thousands of canadians and other people in the world working in the industry are losing their career, including me. there will only be about 20% vfx jobs left where i live by 2025. vfx shops and production houses have already started to close doors here. i'm still mourning this career i have been working in for 8 years and loved, even tho it's been difficult and demanding at times (lots of overtime), but there are just no jobs right now (unless you are a senior vfx artist with decades of experience) and the future will only get more bleak. i could move abroad and follow the industry that is already moving somewhere else, but i don't want to do that on my own (i am already super lonely as it is!!) and i can't afford it.

my unemployment benefits will run out by the last week of september. in 4 weeks. i've been sending resumes everywhere, both online and in person, but i am just not getting anything in return. even tho i have over 15 years of experience working in various jobs and i have never been fired from anywhere. even tho my resume and cover letters are solid because they have been approved my professional counselors (a free service for people under 35 where i live). so much for they're hiring everywhere...

since my vfx compositing skills are very niche and not really applicable to much else, i decided to go back to school, taking college classes in the admin and excecutive assistant fields, since it's something that i think would be good for me and there are lots of jobs for that here. i will be getting some financial aid, but it's nowhere near enough to survive. it will only cover my rent, and that's because my rent is super cheap for my city. my college classes start on september 30 and i am excited for it, but also very stressed because i still don't have a part time job.

i've been living on my own with a small salary for over 10 years now, but it truly is the first time that i'm struggling this hard. i honestly don't have anything worth selling except some taylor swift perfumes, which i sold this week. i also have over 6k of credit debt and another 4.5k of school loans left to pay. at the bare minimum i will need about $1.000 CAD/month to cover my other bills and expenses after rent, hence why the need for a job ASAP. i am desperate and my mental health has been a huge mess. this is why i decided to open my ko-fi accounts. not that i'm expecting much, but anything can help, i think.

i don't have much to offer in exchange, except gifs? i'm wondering if (cheap, low price) gif commissions are a thing? i have no idea know, but i set up a poll on my ko-fi page to see if anyone would be interested.

thank you for reading if you've made it here, it's appreciated 💖

[iww-gnv]

The New York Film and Television Union Coalition is praising a pair of identical bills pending in New York State that would “prohibit applicants to the Empire State film production credit from using artificial intelligence that would displace any natural person in their productions.” The coalition is made up of SAG-AGTRA, the WGA East, the Directors Guild of America, the Cinematographers Guild (IATSE Local 600), the Editors Guild (IATSE Local 700), United Scenic Artists (IATSE Local 829), IATSE Local 52, and Teamsters Local 817. The use of artificial intelligence in the production of film and TV shows is a key strike issue for both the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA, which have been on strike since May 2 and July 14, respectively. The DGA’s new contract, which was ratified in June, contains guardrails on its use, and IATSE, which will begin contract negotiations next year, has said that artificial intelligence “threatens to fundamentally alter employers’ business models and disrupt IATSE members’ livelihoods.” 

[Read the rest]

[howtofightwrite]

Shocker! I just found out that wrestling is actually chereographed? How? To me it looks like a real fight. How do you chereograph something like that? It is quite confusing. And I suppose wrestling isn't actually for combat then but mere performance art? Then how is ever listed as a sports competition when really it's all fake? That makes no sense. I wonder how many of these "champions" woulld be losing their fights if it was actually combat. Are they athletes or actors?

So, this is a lot of questions, and some of them are a little bit out of my range of expertise, so let's clear what I can.

Are professional wrestlers actors or athletes? Yes. It's both. They're actors in the sense that they're putting on a performance. They are playing characters. Perhaps the best way to view it is as a kind of serialized stage-play with mock combat. They're athletes in the same sense as any stunt actor.

One critical thing to understand about the matches is, these aren't competitors dueling it out, these are coworkers working together to stage a visually engaging piece of art. That you didn't realize that is a serious credit to their work.

I dislike using the term, “fake,” in regards to wrestling. It's not a competitive sport, that's true, but is live theater, and in that sense, simply calling it fake feels dismissive. This might sound weird, given the content, but these are very demanding roles. Playing a professional wrestler has a very strenuous physical component. It's not, “real violence,” but the same can be true of almost all of the media you consume. Including competitive sports like boxing or MMA.

I'm also slightly fond of professional wrestling in the abstract (even though I'm not a fan of watching it.) Modern film and TV have a very bad habit of forgetting about stunt performers. It's a very physically taxing, and even dangerous job, while the performers themselves are basically forgotten by the audience. Wrestling is the rare exception to that. You don't (generally) have stunt doubles, so the performers (or, at least their characters) get the limelight.

Now, it's important to understand, there's a lot of ad lib components to professional wrestling, especially when they get to the ring. While everything is going to be roughly outlined, there's a lot of times where the specific exchanges, and dialog, will just be the actors playing their characters for the camera.

The choreography is another mix of planned events and ad lib adjustment in the moment. Some stunts will be planned out in advance, while others will be executed in the moment. If you're curious about this, there are some pretty good documentaries on how this stuff is handled, but a big part is that the performers are playing up, and whiffing, the violence to put on a good show. There's a lot of tricks designed to help the performers. One of the popular submission holds (I forget which one off hand) is specifically designed to help the downed fighter. It is literally designed, so their “opponent,” can give then an opportunity to recover and catch their breath. It's also an opportunity for them to signal to the other performer if something has gone seriously wrong, and if they've been injured.

Asking which one would win in a, “real fight,” is a little like asking which of the stock clerks at your local supermarket would prevail in a battle royale; it's not the point, and it's not their job. Professional wrestlers are there to entertain you, they're there to put on a show. They are not there to hurt each other.

Competitive wrestling does exist as a sport, but it's very far removed from “Professional Wrestling.” If you want to look into that, you can certainly dig up videos. It's not especially popular, and hasn't been for over a century. Professional Wrestling evolved out of the competitive sport, and progressed into increasing levels spectacle to help offset dropping ticket sales. So, there is a clean line from the sport to the performance, but the modern incarnation is almost unrecognizable. This should answer the question of why it's often branded as a sport. It used to be one, and it keeps that label via its legacy, rather than what exists today.

-Starke

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[tenebrare]

Hellraiser - "Future Brain" (Kirsty and Elliot)

Sometimes two artists do get similar ideas at same time. Then the "dibs" go to the one, who posted it 1st. @angelqueen13art beat me to it, but said I should finish mine and post this anyway. Here goes. I am not as classy nor cute as angelqueen13art was though. Originally had Elly with all his pins and all, but changed my mind later on. However I have some serious questions about their relationship, like : In mornings, when Elly is shaving, does he like go like "pins on" like some super heroes say, "flames on" before he goes to work ? When they do renovations in their new home, do they need to buy the nails or are those free ? Do they use Lament Configuration as disco ball/lighting during house parties ? How much does it cost to fix the walls, when Elly accidentally uses chains indoors ? Does he like need to feed the chains like dogs and does he keep them in backyard ? When Elly gets drunk does he mistarget the chains... indoors... again? How do Spencers fill their tax forms ? Also does Elly work 9 to 5 or 5 to 9 ? Or is he on call like some sort of taxi from hell ? Does Kirsty pay the rent/bank loan since Ellys pay might be irregular depending from incoming calls ? Also very important - would Elly bring work home? Would there be dispute between the two about Elly bringing work home again? Does he use hell-"magic" at home to switch TV channels to annoy Kirsty, when she has the remote? So many questions, so little answers. However I know what car he drives to go to work - Range Rover! ----- While in my coming doodle project Kirsty appears only on film-references and "memory sequences", wanted to use her in a 'mood doodle' instead the original character I have in my story. "Future Brain" ... is a reference to a remix of song which would run on end credits if I'd make a Hellraiser film.

Also stole all the # tags from Angelqueen's work. :P Sorry (not sorry) . Hope you all have a nice week-end.

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

SACRAMENTO – The California Film Commission today announced the addition of five big-budget projects and ten independent films into the state’s Film and TV Tax Credit Program 4.0. These fifteen productions, spanning a diverse range of budgets and narratives, are projected to bring close to $408 million into California’s economy through qualified in-state expenditures and will also generate a boost for local economies with an estimated 2,252 crew, 598 cast, and 16,800 background performers poised to work across a combined 579 filming days...

Other notable, non-independent recipients include “Untitled Disney Live Action,” “Untitled 20th Film,” and two Amazon MGM Studios projects “The Accountant 2” and “Mercy.”

“We are thrilled to be able to shoot in Los Angeles thanks to the tax credit,” said Academy Award nominated producer Charles Roven. “We get to work with terrific talent that lives here and utilize the wonderful locations. And almost everyone gets to go home to their own bed at the end of day!” Roven is set to produce the sci-fi film “Mercy” starring Chris Pratt.

[news-buzz]

Gov. Gavin Newsom to Seek to Bolster California Film Industry News Buzz

Gov. Gavin Newsom is set to announce a proposal on Sunday to bolster the struggling TV and film industry in California, his office said in a statement. Newsom is due to appear at a studio lot in Los Angeles to make the announcement, along with leaders from the entertainment industry and labor unions. California provides $330 million per year in tax credits to the industry, but that incentive…

[polijakefim]

Outside Magazine, November 2016 | Travis fimmel, Vikings actors, Happy play

Travis Fimmel’s Minimalist Broasis

Vikings star Travis Fimmel has exactly three possessions: his trailer, his pickup truck, and his horse

I’d been told to meet the Australian ­actor Travis Fimmel, best known for his role as Norse warrior Ragnar Lothbrok in the ­History channel’s Vikings series, at his ranch outside Los Angeles. Given the popularity of the show—four seasons, an Amazon Prime ­release, and season five in the works—I had assumed that Fimmel’s pad would be some secluded midcentury hideout with a well-stocked kitchen and a gym worthy of a broadsword slinger who’d also recently anchored a Warcraft film adaptation that made nearly half a billion dollars worldwide

But the address led to a dusty outdoor riding arena just off the highway, where Fimmel, barefoot in a pair of camo cargo shorts and a surf tee, greeted me from the back of his 15-year-old chestnut quarter horse, Wanker.

“I’m just getting him warmed up so he doesn’t buck you off,” says Fimmel, who is 37 and was raised on a dairy farm in Echuca, Australia. He grew up working in his family’s cherry orchards, camping and fishing with his two older brothers, and surfing behind dirt bikes in irrigation canals. He came to L.A. when he was 21, after being scouted by a modeling agency and dropping out of architecture school. Almost immediately, he was stopping traffic on billboards modeling Calvin Klein underwear

"Among a generation who’ve shunned material possessions, Fimmel has achieved an advanced state of stoic minimalism."

Still mounted, Fimmel led me in my rental car up to his broasis, which, it quickly became clear, was actually a dilapidated 18-foot beige and white Nomad travel trailer parked permanently in the shade of a pepper tree between a water tank and the tack shed. 

“Got it real cheap, over in Phelan,” says Fimmel. “Towing it back, the side panels were flapping, and the back door fell off.” The ranch belongs to longtime stunt coordinator Walter Scott. Fimmel showed up in 2010 looking for riding lessons ahead of a big-screen remake of the 1960s TV show Big Valley. Most of the work around his family’s farm was performed on ATVs, so he was a novice horseman.

“Just ask me about when I first met him,” says Scott. “He says he knew about horses—everything he learned right here, on that horse. Roping and everything. Him and another guy came. He never left.”

The film went down in flames after the director was convicted of committing tax-credit fraud on a previous project, but Fimmel stuck around the stable and now squats there when he’s not traveling. “Out here it’s just good people. No industry,” Fimmel explains. “Just the stunt boys.”

Among a generation who’ve shunned material possessions as barriers to life experience, Fimmel has achieved an advanced state of stoic minimalism. According to him, his only worldly possessions are Wanker, the Craigslist trailer (which now has air-­conditioning), and a red 1982 GMC stepside pickup with a ’73 bed (which does not). ­Before the trailer, he lived in an old Ford Econoline with a pop-up bed. 

“It got taken off me,” he says. “It wasn’t road worthy.” Unlike the cool kids who gussy up Sprinter vans and Westfalias, Fimmel only recently upgraded from a flip phone to an iPhone 4, does no social media, and rarely checks his e-mail. “I’m always getting texts asking why I’m not responding on Instagram or Facebook, and I’m like, ‘It’s not me. You’re writing to some stranger.’ ” 

Fimmel helped me into the saddle, and we headed out for a hack on a trail behind the property, him riding Scott’s horse Josey. It was hot, and Wanker wanted to stop in the shade. Fimmel’s ultimate goal is to save as much money as he can and end up back in Australia on a nice spread—“with three or four wives,” he jokes, though at the moment he says of the opposite sex, “They all hate me, although it’s not for lack of trying. When you do a lot of traveling, it’s hard.” 

He eats what he wants, works out only when he’s forced to, and does his drinking at the local VFW hall. But for a guy who regrets his modeling days and says he wasn’t looking to get into acting—“Still not looking to, mate”—he’s stripped away everything else. If he could, he’d spend three months studying for each of his parts. “You get sucked into it, trying to be good at it,” he says. “I wish you could make money and people never saw what you did. Then you could relax and not care about how bad you are.”

It’s the proper amount of self-hatred for an action hero who’s actually good at his craft—more Viggo Mortensen than Chris Hemsworth. He starts shooting a blockbuster bank-heist film, Finding Steve McQueen, in September, starring alongside Kate Bosworth and Forest Whitaker. 

Fimmel is extraordinarily soft-spoken—introverted, even—for a guy at risk of being typecast as a barbarian. At an interview with three of his Vikings castmates at Comic-Con in July, Fimmel managed to get through the entire Q&A saying exactly zero words. But he’s only now being tested in parts with more range, like his supporting role as a bearded-hipster pickle entrepreneur in the 2016 roman­tic comedy Maggie’s Plan and a loving, alcoholic father in an adaptation of the horse-racing novel Lean on Pete that was shot in Oregon and wrapped this summer. On that project, he ducked out for a few days to reel in his first steelhead with a friend at the mouth of the Chehalis River. 

It was nearly 100 degrees on the trail. The Blue Cut Fire had just broken out in San Bernardino, and disaster-relief crews were a constant presence on the highway. Each of the past three summers, Fimmel has escaped this kind of heat, shooting Vikings in the cold mists of Ireland. The Ragnar role even landed him an endorsement deal as the face of high-end down-jacket company Canada Goose, which photographed him earlier this year among the icebergs of Newfoundland. 

Here, though, it was just really hot. We put the horses up, Fimmel hosed Wanker down, and we went for a Bud Light at the VFW. If any of the vets and bikers recognized him, they didn’t show it. This time next year, it may not be so easy.

Lead Photo: Jeff Lipsky

[lingyunxiang]

California State Senator Ben Allen represents the 24th Senate District, covering the Westside, Hollywood, South Bay, and Santa Monica Mountains communities of Los Angeles County. Ben was first elected in 2014 and is now serving his third and final term in the State Senate.

Ben chairs the Senate's Environmental Quality Committee and co-chairs the Legislature's Environmental Caucus, is a member of the Legislative Jewish Caucus, chairs the Legislature's Joint Committee on the Arts, and the Senate Select Committee on Aerospace and Defense. He previously served as Chair of the Education Committee (2017-2019) and Chair of the Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee (2015-2016).

Ben has thrown himself into the important work of state government, focusing on wise decision-making and pushing for reforms that address systemic inadequacies in our state. He has authored nearly 60 new laws in various areas, from environmental protection to electoral reform.

During his first two terms in the Senate, fighting the climate crisis and protecting our state's precious natural resources have been among Ben's top priorities. CalMatters recently recognized him as one of the Legislature's foremost leaders in the field of environmental protection. He authored SB 54, groundbreaking legislation to address plastic pollution, which Governor Newsom signed into law to international acclaim. The New York Times called SB 54 "the most sweeping restrictions on plastics in the nation" and suggested the legislation is "another route for curbing carbon emissions and trying to sidestep the worst consequences of global warming" after the Supreme Court gutted the federal government's power to regulate carbon emissions. As Chair of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, Ben worked with his colleagues to pass a powerful climate package requiring the state to become carbon-neutral by 2045 and produce 90% of its electricity from clean sources by 2035, among other measures. A member of the Ocean Protection Council and Coastal Conservancy, he has led a successful effort to phase out a dangerous carcinogen in firefighting foam, crafted a compromise to phase out destructive trawling gear, and brokered a major compromise that lessened the environmental impact of off-highway vehicle use at state facilities. "If only Congress could work out such compromises," wrote the Sacramento Bee editorial board about the bill.

Among his efforts to reform California campaign finance and elections laws, Ben authored the landmark Voter's Choice Act of 2016 to implement more flexibility in how and where to vote, creating the vote center model used in the 2020 elections, which resulted in significantly increased voter turnout. Ben also has been a leader for campaign transparency, and was a leader in passing the Disclose Act and Petition Disclose Act and other transparency measures that have dramatically improved the disclosure of donors to political causes for the public. The California Clean Money Campaign has routinely ranked him top in the Legislature for his commitment to clean money political reform.

An advocate for the Golden State's continued leadership in arts and entertainment, Ben is a member of the California Film Commission. He was part of a legislative effort to extend the Film & TV Tax Credit Program to further support and invest in California’s unrivaled film industry. Ben also authored the law that reinstated teaching credentials for theatre and dance educators, and he continues to fight for expanded access to the arts in schools and underserved communities. Ben has been a champion for science and was a joint author of the state's groundbreaking law that increased vaccination rates among school children.

Prior to his election to the Senate, Ben served as President of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education, lecturer at UCLA Law School, and worked as an attorney at the law firms of Bryan Cave LLP and Richardson & Patel and at the nonprofit Spark Program. While at law school, Ben served as the voting student member of the University of California Board of Regents and was a summer judicial clerk with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Prior to law school, Ben worked in Washington DC for the Latin American team of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), and then as Communications Director for Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY).

Ben grew up in the 24th Senate District and attended public schools, graduating from Santa Monica High School in 1996. His father, Michael, spent his career on the English Department faculty at UCLA and mother, Elena, was a public school teacher and artist who served as Chair of the Santa Monica Arts Commission. Ben has a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude in History from Harvard University; a Master's degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge; and a Juris Doctor degree from UC Berkeley. Fluent in Spanish, Ben is a Senior Fellow with the international human rights organization Humanity in Action, an Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellow, a Truman National Security Project Fellow, and a graduate of the Jewish Federation's New Leaders Project. He and his wife Melanie, an attorney, have a little son, Ezra.

[mycenaae]

need more than anything to know how ofmd got the canadian film and tv services tax credit and the quebec production services tax credit. when the fuck were they in quebec

[stary-night]

So out of curiosity I looked up Gomorrah and:

When your Mafia movie is a little too realistic.

[Image ID: An article posted on IMDB from the Hollywood Reporter published on January 5th 2009. It reads:

"Martin Scorsese will lend his name to IFC Films' U.S. release of the Italian crime drama "Gomorrah." Matteo Garrone's study of the Naples Mafia, the Grand Prix winner at last year's Festival de Cannes, will carry the presentation credit "Martin Scorsese Presents" when it arrives in theaters Feb. 13.

In a separate development, Italian actor Giovanni Venosa, one of the movie's stars, has been arrested on suspicion of taking part in real-life mob activities. Venosa, who plays a clan boss in the film, has been taken into police custody accused of extortion after allegedly trying to collect a "pizzo" -- Mafia tax -- from businesses in the Caserte region near Naples, the Italian media reported Monday. He has previously been convicted for Mafia links and was sentenced to community service in November for drug trafficking.

Venosa is the third actor from the film to be arrested for Mafia"]

The funniest thing about the original Goncharov post is that I have seen people do exhaustive amounts of research in order to discern that it's a misspelling/mistranslation of Martin Scorcese's "Gomorrah" and then go "well this explains everything" while never once questioning why it's on shoes