I keep hearing that a trend is in the flow where a the Film Industry is leaving the California scene and spreading its roots into the Midwest States of Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Georgia, Kansas, etc. with new actor/actress faces sought to freshen the younger demographic model age who will spend the dollar to go see a movie or rent that video. (Gone Girl-Southeast MO...Oct.2014---Belleville The Movie April 22 Belleville IL Carbondale IL, and St.Louis---What Did She Say? Trailer Springfield MO April 12th & 13th 2014). WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON THIS TREND my friend and contributor to Stage 32?
Acting : Is the film industry spreading it's roots to the midwest? by Rick Jey
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I also heard they are mainly filming in Louisiana State because of their generous tax incentives.
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Yes I have heard the same. Missouri Film Commission is working on getting tax incentives.
I've been noticing a lot going on in Louisiana and Georgia in recent times. New Mexico has a decent amount of activity too, from what I can tell. I'm not sure what the future holds. It is indeed all about the tax incentives, I'm sure.
great thats innovative and lots of new talent wil emerge
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I think it's more business driven. More than 50,000 "fresh faces" arrive in L.A. every year, so there's plenty to choose from. The cost of production and overhead is excruciating in California and cheap in comparison to the midwest. In Kansas, you can create a C corporation or LLC for less than $200 and it's all online in minutes. Technology has made quality production within just about anyone's reach, compared to how it used to be. This has resulted in less dependence on Hollywood, but make no mistake, you still need talented people. All the technology in the world will not "fix" mediocre talent. This is the biggest challenge you're likely to face being out of L.A. ... getting key crew positions filled with truly talented people. You can do it.
Thanks Don. Everything you have touched on is very true. Paramount brought a major film our way to Missouri recently and the tax incentives were not there so they pulled out quickly. Thanks for concurring with me on so many factors right now. Talent is truly the key though, I agree.
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There are no tax incentives here any longer in Missouri. The problem is they always give it away to one film and then there is no money until the following year. I said when we had 4.5m left in the incentive program to divide that by 24 and you could have two small indy films shooting twice a month and create a brick and mortar business that would create jobs year round like many in Jeff City wanted to see. Who knows maybe we could have become the GA of the indie world.
Gary, I agree. What do we have to do to get things going. Missouri state has great areas for production shoot venues. 12-30-2019
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Rick -- The first thing you need to do is assess the in-state crew and resource situation, and work to increase them as needed. Incentives are great, but not so much if I have to fly in and accommodate too many crew members, or truck in equipment from across the country because it's not available locally.
As I go deeper down the rabbit hole, too often I'm finding incentives merely mitigate cost with the ultimate result being more work for the Producer with a disproportionately small financial benefit-- it's just not worth it.
Another consideration is timing. Will it take a year to get my rebate? And if it's a transferable tax credit, how much is it really worth? If I get a $3 mill tax credit from the state of Missouri, who will I sell it to? And for how much? Tax credits are suspect without the industrial base to off load them on.
And then there's politics-- The State of California just awarded $!50,000.000 in incentives to the Film Industry, but not to me and thee. Only to Studio Attached PCs, Studios that support the sitting State Government with donations.
Ideally, I want an instant incentive that I can convert to cash and use to cover post. This is the model being followed by the North Star Alliance of Latvia, Estonia, and Finland-- 30% cash back in two weeks after wrapping, and top line post facilities available in country, if needed. That's the stuff, right there.
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Good post Kay. I like the North Star Alliance idea too...
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The North Star idea is great. Kay pretty much said what I was thinking. You have to first look locally to see who they handle the film industry. Do you locally in Nebraska have access to trucks and so forth for filming like Los Angeles or New York? Pretty much seeing people here in Colorado working their asses off to make film here and yet the state just doesn't know what to do at times when it comes to film. There lies in the problem, which every state may have.