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nyslovesfilm · 7 years

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Film Good / Do Good Program

Film Community Pitches In To Help New Yorkers in Need

Film Good/Do Good, New York’s unique program that connects film and television productions with volunteer service opportunities in the communities where they film, held several successful outreach events in December. On Sunday, Dec. 17, crew members from Starz’s hit show Power volunteered at the Welcome Table at Xavier Mission in Manhattan and helped provide a hot dinner for 1,300 people in need of a meal. The show’s 19 volunteers included a producer, the UPM, an associate producer, a publicist, directors, grips, PA and production supervisor, and representatives from locations, stunts, costumes, construction, sound and the art department. Xavier Mission strives for a future where all people, regardless of economic status, are treated with dignity and respect and are given the opportunity to realize their goals.

And for the second year in a row, Film Good / Do Good partnered with the Producers Guild of America (PGA East) to participate in the New York State Annual Holiday Coat/Toy Drive. In addition to donations collected at the Dec. 18 PGA holiday party, 10 productions—Bull, Deception, The Goldfinch, Madam Secretary, Marvel’s Iron Fist, Succession, Untitled Ramy Youssef Project, Pose, Sesame Street, The Americans and The Good Cop — put donation boxes on their sets to collect coats and unwrapped new toys from their cast and crew to be distributed to New Yorkers in need throughout all regions of the state. On Dec. 19, PGA East volunteers joined forces with members of the National Guard and New York State employee volunteers to sort the donations for distribution.

Film Good/Do Good is a first-of-its-kind partnership that brings together the Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development and the New York State Commission on National and Community Service in a program that connects film and television productions with volunteer service opportunities in the communities where they film. Funded in part by a grant for the Corporation for National and Community Service and administered by the PGA East, Film Good / Do Good works with productions shooting on location across NYS to encourage cast and crew members to donate their time and expertise at non-profit organizations that are fighting hunger, homelessness and other root causes of poverty in some of the state’s neediest neighborhoods.

Since its inception last year, over a dozen productions have participated in a variety of Film Good / Do Good organized events with service agencies including Habitat for Humanity, New Alternatives, Women’s Prison Association and Safe Horizons, to name just a few. In addition to the overall economic benefit the film and television industry brings to New York State, Film Good/Do Good has created a pathway for productions to find ways to show they care about the less fortunate in the communities where they film. For more information, or questions about the program, contact: [email protected].

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nyslovesfilm · 5 years

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Film Good/Do Good Is Stronger Than Ever

As a prolific unit production manager, Tyson Bidner has worked on Film Good/Do Good service events with several New York productions. In May, with HBO’s Succession, Bidner joined other members of the production team to conduct a green initiative at P.S. 253Q in Far Rockaway, Queens. Students, who were given lunch and received custom water bottles, learned about gardening, the importance of recycling and helped unpack and set up the trash and recycling bins the production donated to each of the school’s classrooms. Bidner, who’s worked on other Film Good/Do Good events with FX Network’s The Americans and Marvel’s Iron Fist, says he thinks “Film Good/Do Good is a rewarding and important program because it allows a show to give back [with] more than just a donation. Since projects are more hands-on and participatory, it allows for a great connection with the community and a greater understanding of the issues faced by some of our neighbors.”

Since its April 2016 launch, Film Good/Do Good has led 34 service events by connecting film and television productions to schools and non-profit organizations in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Staten Island, the Bronx, Harlem, Queens, Far Rockaway, Utica, Syracuse and Buffalo. Several more events are in the works between now and January, including the Producers Guild of America’s (PGA East) fourth consecutive year of participating in New York State’s Annual Holiday Coat/Toy Drive to help needy New Yorkers around the state. Other productions that have participated in Film Good/Do Good include The Joker (Warner Bros.), Orange Is the New Black and The Irishman (Netflix), Godfather of Harlem (Epix), and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon). Organizations that benefit from this initiative are varied and have included The Campaign Against Hunger, New York Common Pantry, Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, City Harvest, Safe Horizon, Women’s Prison Association, Xavier Mission and Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation, to name a few. Paramount’s A Quiet Place 2, which shot in Buffalo, showed its gratitude to the city on Sept. 25 by donating racks of clothing, shoes and accessories to Compass House, an organization that offers hope and services to homeless youth in Western New York. That donation coincided with a career day the production held that inspired students from The Service Collaborative of Western New York, whose mission is to provide educational opportunities for at-risk and low-income individuals. In August, Warner Bros.’ In the Heights worked with Northern Manhattan Improvement Corporation (NMIC) in custom-building a mahogany podium, wired for sound and adorned with a plaque featuring the movie’s name, the year and an inspiring line of dialogue from the film: “Ay, mama what do you do when your dreams come true?” Sara Chapman, NMIC’s Director of Educational & Career Services said, “we are all still marveling at the beautiful podium and have already started putting it to good use.” Filmmakers from In the Heights led a dynamic career seminar following the podium’s unveiling ceremony. “Film Good/ Do Good provided an opportunity for the production team to share their talents and skills with the next generation of storytellers,” said Karla Sayles, Warner Bros. Director, Public Affairs. “NMIC is an incredible organization and our team found the experience to be meaningful and rewarding.” Chapman added that “it really means a lot that the production team was willing to give their time, share their stories and offer advice to the teens/young adults and NMIC staff members, giving them the chance to hear about career opportunities that we typically don't expose them to.” A partnership between the Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development, the NYS Commission on National & Community Service, and New York Cares, Film Good/Do Good is the first and only state government-organized community giveback program in the nation that is tailored specifically to the film and television industry and is dedicated to amplifying the positive impact productions bring to New York State beyond the economic footprint. For more information or questions about Film Good/Do Good, contact [email protected].

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nyslovesfilm · 5 years

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Film and Television Soundstage Projects Awarded $3.9 Million in REDC Grants

Regional Economic Development Council Grants Support Film/TV Industry Across the State

On Dec. 19, Governor Cuomo announced New York State’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) awards which include $3.9 million in grants awarded to five production-related projects around the state. Recipients are:

Buffalo Film Works (Western NY)

o $600,000 to build out a major motion picture film studio in the City of Buffalo

Columbia Basilica Industries LLC (Capital Region)

o $950,139 to renovate and improve existing Qualified Production Facility Basilica Hudson

Orange County Arts Council and PS 6 Liberty Street LLC (Mid-Hudson)

o Two awards totaling $955,000 for renovation of a building and creation of PS 6 Center for Film and Television, a one-stop shop film/TV facility including soundstages and offices

Ulster Stockade Works (Mid-Hudson)

o $145,000 for purchase of post-production and production equipment to provide film/TV training in Kingston

101 Channel Dr, LLC (Long Island)

o $1,250,000 for conversion of a vacant building in Port Washington into a six-stage television and movie production studio

In addition, several arts organizations and economic development agencies received grants for film/TV- related training programs, including:

Hook Arts Media (New York City)

o $30,000 for advanced media and media education training to young people from underrepresented communities

Firelight Media (New York City)

o $56,250 to increase capacity to better serve Harlem filmmakers

To learn more about New York State’s REDC grants click here. These grants help support New York State’s thriving film and television production industry and the many thousands of jobs the industry generates. In 2019, film and television production represented an estimated $4.8 billion in spend and more than 250,000 hires in New York State.

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nyslovesfilm · 6 years

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MPTV Participates in Post New York Alliance Quarterly Meeting

The Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development (MPTV) participated earlier this month in Post New York Alliance (PNYA)’s quarterly meeting to discuss the state of the post-production industry in New York. Twenty-four PNYA members attended the Dec. 5 meeting, hosted by Trevanna Post in their Manhattan office.

MPTV discussed the success of New York State’s post-production tax incentive, highlighting the program’s growth since Governor Cuomo enhanced it in 2012 – 511 applications resulting in approximately $602,756,161 in New York spend and more than 5,900 direct New York hires. The post-production tax credit is also making strides in animation - fully animated/VFX-only films are now eligible for the program with a low, 20% qualified cost threshold requirement. Other discussion topics included: diversity in employment; attracting more homegrown talent through training programs; and hiring students and recent grads from the newly opened MAGIC Spell Studios at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

PNYA members attending were from various facets of the industry and included representatives from Trevanna Post, Workforce Innovations, Sim Studios, Mechanism Digital, Technicolor PostWorks NY, Phosphene, Molecule, a CPA firm, a music editor, and a composer/producer. A few had recently relocated to New York, including Al Lopez, President of Stargate Studios, Baha Inozu, Partner at Glue Editing Design, and Michael Lebensfeld, Producer and Managing Director of Ingenuity Studios. MPTV spoke with Lebensfeld about his move to New York.

MPTV: What is the history of Ingenuity Studios?

LEBENSFELD: Ingenuity grew out of a college dorm room in 2003 as a response to friends’ and students’ need for VFX. My brother, David, Founder and Creative Director, spent his final semester in Los Angeles where he jumpstarted the operation, ultimately expanding to a 10,000 square foot facility with over 100 employees. I joined the company in 2007.

MPTV: What made you decide to move to New York?

LEBENSFELD: In 2014, we started to notice a trend with our feature film clients. The first thing they would ask before starting a project is “Do you have an office in New York,” rather than “Can you do the work and for how much?” That was because the project was being shot in New York and they wanted to spend as much as possible within the state to take advantage of the tax credit. At first, we found a temporary space to take on projects in New York, and would immediately fold up shop when post was over and head back to L.A. However, we kept receiving more and more requests and we got tired of saying “no”. This prompted me to move back to New York along with a VFX Supervisor to open a permanent office in Soho in Sept. of 2017. At first, we were just two people, but as of this month, we have grown to eight full-time employees.

MPTV: How has the impact of the NYS tax credits affected your business?

LEBENSFELD: It has provided an incredible opportunity to do visual effects in Manhattan and the rest of New York State. Prior to this tax credit, it was prohibitively expensive to do visual effects in NYC without spending an arm and a leg. However, with this new subsidy, productions are incentivized to do as much production and post-production here as possible. We are seeing a real push from studios based in Los Angeles to do more work in New York. Not only have we participated in film and television, but our permanent presence here has allowed us to go after local commercial work as well.

Since opening our doors, some of the projects we’ve worked on include: Dietland (AMC Series); Vulture Club (Feature for YouTubeRed); Isn't It Romantic (Feature Film); A Million Little Things (ABC TV Series); The Walking Dead (AMC Series – a VFX-only project participating in the NYS Post production tax credit program); The Runaways (HULU Series); and Motherless Brooklyn (Feature Film).

To be completely honest, there is no way we would have ended up working on any of these projects had we not relocated and become eligible for the NYS tax credit. It has opened up a world of new opportunities and within the first year created seven additional jobs. We've since scaled up from a 190 square foot office in FIDI to a 2,000 square foot office in Soho.

MPTV: Do you anticipate further growth?

LEBENSFELD: Yes! There’s a content war that exists right now between conventional networks and streaming platforms and all those projects have to be shot and completed somewhere. So, if New York State continues to offer better and competitive tax credits, I expect even more productions to come.

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nyslovesfilm · 6 years

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2018 Pitch NY: Year 3 is the Biggest Ever

Largest student group in the program’s history

Fifty student writers and filmmakers from 26 schools around New York State attended this year’s 3rd annual Pitch NY program on Nov. 16 in Manhattan, where they met with film and television industry professionals to network and learn how to effectively pitch their creative ideas. Hosted by NBCUniversal in partnership with New York State Governor’s Office of Motion Picture & Television Development (MPTV) and the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, this year’s event drew the program’s biggest class to-date, from an applicant pool of 200, up nearly 20 percent from last year.

Originally conceived to highlight and promote diverse storytelling, Pitch NY is also dedicated to encouraging the next generation of New York-based filmmakers and writers and has worked with a total of almost 120 students since its launch.

This year’s class included current students, recent graduates and three military veterans. The two-day event kicked off on Nov. 15 with an evening reception at NBCUniversal’s 30 Rockefeller headquarters in Midtown, where participants were able to mingle with industry professionals, Pitch NY alumni, and government representatives. The program opened the next morning with welcoming remarks from event partners: Linda Sun, New York State’s Deputy Chief Diversity Officer; Felix Sanchez, Chairman & Co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts; and Craig Robinson, NBCUniversal’s Executive Vice President & Chief Diversity Officer.

“Pitch NY shares NBCUniversal’s longstanding mission to nurture and showcase diverse and emerging talent,” Robinson said. “By attracting, developing and retaining the best and the brightest writers, directors and actors, we will remain a leader in providing content to an increasingly diverse and global audience.”

The panel that followed, “How to Get Your Story Heard and Produced, “offered insights from Brooke Kennedy, Executive Producer and Director, The Good Wife and The Good Fight; Samantha Thomas ,Vice President, Development at Marvel TV; and Santiago Quinones, Producer, Blue Bloods.

The day’s other highlights included “speed pitching” sessions – one-on-one meetings giving students the chance to pitch their ideas directly to the industry professionals and hear feedback on their presentation. The participants were matched with executives from major studios (CBS, HBO, NBC and Sony), independent production companies (James Schamus’ Symbolic Exchange and Jake Gyllenhall’s Nine Stories Productions) and industry organizations including the New York Women In Film (NYWIFT), and the Yonkers and Bushwick Film Festivals. Some participants were pitching their ideas for the first time. “This has been a great opportunity to exercise my ‘pitching muscles,’” said Fordham student and aspiring writer/producer, Rachel Jarvis. “I’m learning how to structure my loglines and effectively tell my story. But I’ve also learned that I’m not just pitching my story, I’m pitching myself.”

Keynotes from two creative producers— actor/writer/director, Otoja Abit (Jitters, Stonewall) and veteran producer Nina Noble (The Wire, The Deuce)—also offered insightful perspectives on the creative journey and the often tough road to seeing a project through.

“Now is the time to think about activating your career,” Noble said in her closing remarks. “You have to be really passionate about your ideas and speak with conviction about them. I guarantee that everyone has something in their background they can bring to make their project stronger. Do excellent work. In the end, that is what gets you noticed. That’s what will get you the job.”

To learn more about Pitch NY, click here.

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