PRODUCTION INCENTIVES

• Tools for 2010
• Updates by Jurisdiction
• Upcoming Appearances
• Recent Appearances
• EP in the News
• What's New at EP?
• Maximize Your Incentives with EP

The Essential Guide to U.S. & International Production Incentives, 2010, 2nd Edition, edited by Joseph Chianese, Marco Cordova, and Barbara Rosenfeld, is now available. Contact our Incentives Group to order your copy at no charge.

Monthly Production Incentives Email Updates Archive of previous newsletters is available. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.

Follow the EP Production Incentives Group on Twitter for instant updates on incentives and events at www.twitter.com/filmincentives.

Recent Updates, as of September 2, 2010, have been posted to the website.

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U.S. Updates
For more information on incentives in each state, visit the U.S. Overview on our website and click on the state of interest.

CALIFORNIA - San Francisco
Mayor Newsom appointed Susannah Robbins as Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Commission. Christine Munday and Laurel Barsotti continue as Filming Coordinators.
  
LOUISIANA
The Louisiana Film Office recently issued emergency rules to establish a structure to collect audit fees in a "worse case" scenario where the first audit did not provide proper validation for expenditures. This second (forensic) audit would be a last measure, and the current film incentive law already provides the authority to enforce such an audit, if needed.

MICHIGAN
An article summarizes the debate about the Senate Fiscal Agency report on the revenue impact of state film incentives. (See Freep, mLive.)

Another article highlights the areas of subjectivity in the film tax credit approval process.

See AnnArbor.com for an article discussing the candidates for Governor and their positions on the film incentives.

NEVADA
The New Nevada Taskforce, formed by Lt. Gov. Krolicki as head of the Commission on Economic Development, has agreed to gather more information on seven proposed economic diversification concepts, including nurturing the growth of the film and television industries. Krolicki advises that providing tax incentives would require a constitutional change because the state does not have income taxes. (See Las Vegas Sun.)

NEW JERSEY
 The New Jersey Division of Taxation issued a Notice clarifying the Film Tax Credit suspension, as follows: An original applicant,or a transferee, for the film (or digital media) tax credits, can use the credits only to reduce the liability for eligible taxes (corporate business tax and the gross income tax) with an original due date on or before June 30, 2010, or after the suspension expires. The suspension applies to taxes with an original due date after June 30, 2010 and before July 1, 2011. The suspension does not prevent acceptance and review of new applications for credits, nor does it prevent applications for transfer or sale of the credits. Approved applicants will be placed in a queue.

NEW YORK
 The New York Film Office has posted Guidance explaining the recent amendments regarding the two categories of eligible applicants and the relevant project criteria for recovery of qualified stage costs, location and other NYS costs, and post-production costs. Once the post-production threshold is met, post production costs are eligible for the 30% credit only if the stage and location thresholds are met. Otherwise, they are eligible for the 10% credit. Amended forms and regulations are in progress.

Current forms, instructions, and guidance can be obtained on the New York Film Office site.

TEXAS
Recent discuss the uncertainty arising with respect to the film incentive because approval does not occur until after all expenses are incurred and the project is completed. The incentive will be denied if the Film Commissioner finds that there is "inappropriate content or content that portrays Texas or Texans in a negative fashion." (See Texas Tribune.)

International Updates

Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) Cineposium 2010
Los Angeles, CA
October 30 - November 2, 2010
At this year's AFCI Cineposium, EP will have a booth and will also conduct a software demo during one of the refreshment breaks. EP will introduce guest speaker John Tarnoff at the Opening Session, as well as welcome the members to the "How Would You Handle It" workshop exclusively for film commissioners. AFCI members include 330 commissions from 45 countries that serve as city, county, state, regional, provincial, or national film liaisons to the production industry.

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2010 New York International Film & TV Finance Summit
New York, NY
September 27-28, 2010
Joseph Chianese was Summit Moderator at the BNA/ATLAS Film & TV Finance Summit recently. Along with Vinca Jarrett of FilmPro Finance, Chianese moderated a panel entitled "Soft Money Incentives," which discussed domestic film finance credits and incentives. EP's Richard Guay was a panelist, along with Anthony Gudas (Tax Credit Finance), Michael Hansen (3 Point Capital), Denise Pinckley (Independent Production Manager & Producer), William Earon (Coastal Capital Advisors LLC) and Adam Brightman (Producer/Production Manager). This panel took place on Monday, September 27, at 2:45 pm.

411 Publishing Webinar Series:"Spotlight on Canada"
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, September 16, 2010, 11:30 am (Pacific)
A new series of production incentive webinars kicked off live from the Toronto Film Festival! Joseph Chianese moderated the panel of film commissioners and filmmakers as they shared a practical conversation about production incentives, with a spotlight on Canada. Panelists included Robert Wong (Vice President, Tax Credits & Development, British Columbia Film), Jennifer Blitz (Director, Tax Credits & Financing Programs, Ontario Media Development Corporation), David Carter (President, Canada Film Capital), and Jennifer Liscio (Director, Legal Affairs and Tax Incentives, Canada Film Capital). These webinars are presented by 411 Publishing and Variety.com in partnership with the Producers Guild of America. Click here to register for and view the archived webinar.

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Detroit Free Press
September 5, 2010
Marco Cordova (Marketing) is quoted in "Getting Film Tax Credits Can Be Taxing," an article about film tax credits in the state of Michigan

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Production Incentives Administration Services
Entertainment Partners recently hired Shawn Gillespie to oversee EP's new production incentives administration business. With more than 17 years of production accounting experience at several major studios, Shawn and his staff will offer production incentives administrative services, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Preparation and submission of film incentive applications, including final paperwork, if any
  
• Close coordination with the film office/state agency, the production accounting office, auditors (if any), and the state revenue department (if applicable) to ensure proper recordkeeping and documentation are maintained to maximize and substantiate incentives
  
• Reviewing and monitoring costs on a weekly basis to ensure proper "flagging" of all eligible spend
  
• Vetting of budgets for financial institutions or third-party investors or film tax credit purchasers
  

Please contact Shawn via email or at 818.955.6243 if you would like more information regarding our new production incentives administration services.

Alaska Office
Entertainment Partners and EPPS Purchasing, Inc. recently opened a new office in Alaska to help service local productions. Please contact Marco Cordova via email or at 818.955.6278, or our local business partner, Matt Szundy, via email or at 907.263.9360, regarding the new procurement services now available in Alaska.

Website and Comparison Tool
Visit www.epincentivesolutions.com for the most up-to-date incentives information, including a new extensive glossary covering types of incentives, eligibility criteria, benefit limits, and other key issues to consider. Be sure to check out the Comparison Tool that enables you to compare incentives in up to three different jurisdictions.

EPPS Purchasing, Inc. Participating Vendor List
A participating vendor list is now available for EPPS Purchasing, Inc., which provides production equipment and supplies, at competitive rates, in certain states to help maximize your production incentives. Please contact Marco Cordova at 818.955.6278 regarding our EPPS Purchasing, Inc. services.

Want to be a participating EPPS Purchasing, Inc., vendor? Please contact Mary Ann McBride at 412.956.7325 for more information.

EP Incentive Solutions
Please contact EP Incentives Solutions specialists by email or by phone at 818.955.6216 if you have any questions regarding your next production. We can help you budget your next production and find the most beneficial incentives at no charge. We also provide fee-based services for production incentives administration, finance facilitation, corporate-structure planning, and agreed-upon consulting projects. Visit our Services section for more information and contact information for our EP Incentive Solutions specialists.

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Entertainment Partners has purchased Workers' Compensation policies from local brokers throughout the United States to help maximize your production incentives! Listed below are those production incentives states where EP currently has a local policy.

Florida
Hawaii
Illinois
Louisiana
Mississippi
New Jersey
New Mexico
Pennsylvania
Texas

More policies to be announced soon!

Entertainment Partners has an office in each of the following states to help maximize your production incentives (more to open soon!):

Alaska *
California
Connecticut **
Florida
Georgia ***
Louisiana ****
Michigan *****
New Mexico ******
New York
Pennsylvania *******
Utah


* EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc. opened an office in Alaska. Please email or call 907.263.9360 for additional information regarding our services in Alaska.

** EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc., have a full-time Account Representative in Connecticut to help maximize your production incentives benefits. Please contact Scott Brant at 203.291.9399 for more information regarding our services in Connecticut.

*** EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc., have a full-time Account Representative in Georgia to help maximize your production incentives benefits. Please contact Karen Sortor at 678.690.8469 for more information regarding our services in Georgia.

**** EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc. have a full-time Account Representative working in our Jefferson Parish office to help maximize your production incentives. Please contact Ryan Broussard at 504.296.2502 for more information regarding our services in Louisiana.

***** EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc. have a full-time Account Representative in Detroit to help maximize your production incentives. Please contact Blane Hailemichael at 313.573.0018 for more information regarding our services in Michigan.

****** EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc., have an office at Albuquerque Studios. EP provides super loan-out services in New Mexico to help maximize your production incentives. For more information contact the EP Production Incentives Group.

******* EP and EPPS Purchasing, Inc., have a full-time Account Representative in Pennsylvania to help maximize your production incentive benefits. Please contact Mary Ann McBride at 412.956.7325 for more information regarding our services in Pennsylvania.

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