Louisiana is the new Film Capital of the World

A few years ago, I won the Pennsylvania Film Industry Association award for my paper on keeping and increasing the PA film tax credit aka movie production incentives. An incentive by definition is something that motivates an individual to perform an action. For example a coupon is an incentive because it gets you to buy a certain product at a discount. In the film industry, tax credits exist as an incentive to attract production to certain areas. Most industrialized nations offer a tax credit program and here in America most states offer some kind of film incentive program.

Film In LA just released their annual film production report and Louisiana, has just taken over the #1 spot for film production largely due to the fact that the state's tax credit is uncapped and there is no budget limits. Louisiana's program also encourages independent filmmakers to apply for tax credits, which is crucial, in my opinion. Yes big budget productions are nice but film commissions need to focus on filmmakers who live in the area and besides movies that cost a few hundred thousand are more frequent.
California comes into the rankings at #4, behind Louisiana, Canada and the UK. California's tax program is capped at $100M and it's based on a lottery system for projects under $75M. A bill has been introduced to allow California's tax program to increase and allow productions over $75M to apply. In addition, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has appointed Ken Ziffren as his 'film czar' to help formulate a  plan to resurrect film production inside LA. I'm not exactly sure what he could offer that would help keep productions in Los Angeles besides offering some tax breaks.
And here in Pennsylvania, there is a new campaign to uncap the tax program. Over the past years the tax credit has gone up and down and it currently is capped at $60M. This year, Philadelphia landed at #7 on Movie Maker magazines, 'Best Place to Live and Work as a MovieMaker in 2014.'

Film tax incentives are among a hot button topic right now as proponents detail how they work because they bring millions of dollars and jobs into areas and there are opponents who say they take away from other incentives programs and demonize the film tax program by using the phrase,  "Hollywood Handout."
Obviously not all films applying for the tax credit are Hollywood backed, the fact is when someone uses that phrase it does more harm to the independent film community if anything.
In the end, each state is closely monitoring the ROI of the film tax credits not only of their state but of neighboring states. Interesting enough, some states without tax programs are getting creative, such as New Hampshire (they share and promote filmmakers crowdfunding campaigns), Delaware (promotes no sales tax) and South Dakota (no income tax).

This article is a reprint of my Examiner article.

- Dave
http://DaveBullis.com 

CrowdFunding 101: Terminology

These are not all of the crowdfunding 'lingo' you'll hear but it's good to know this terminology as you'll need to know this when planning but you'll hear a lot of them again in other areas particularly terms like ROI.

Above the Line costs: All costs associated with the Writer(s), Producer(s), Director(s), and Actors. These costs are typically fixed costs.

Accounting Costs: All monetary costs associated with a project or activity.

Angle Investor: Don't let the term 'investor' fool you. An Angel Investor  is an investor or investment group that provides financial backing as initial capital (aka seed money) whether it's a one time donation or continued support in cycles or at specific 'times of need.' Angle Investor's are seen as the opposite of a venture capitalist.

Below the Line costs: All costs associated with everyone else of a production after those included in Above The Line costs. These costs are typically variable costs.

Break Even: Point at which costs/expenses equal revenue, resulting in no net loss or gain.

Donation: When a person makes a contribution to your project.

Economic Costs: Economic Cost = Accounting cost + Opportunity cost

Equity: A percentage share/stake of a project.

Funding Goal: The monetary goal for a project.
Funding Goal formula = Above The Line Costs + Below the Line costs + Cost to fulfill perks + Platform Fees

Landing Page: Typically the main page of your project on a particular platform that is usually linked  from social media and other sites.

Perks: An incentive given for donating at a certain level. Ex, if you pay X, you get a digital download of the film.

Perk Fulfillment: The cost and process of fulfilling campaign perks.

Pitch Video: Video used on your crowdfunding landing page to promote and pitch yourself and the project.

Platform: The crowdFunding site you choose to use for your campaign.

Progress Bar: A physical representation to show people that arrive on your landing page how close the project is to it's goal.

ROI: Return on Investment. A method used to determine if investment is worth costs by the amount it will yield. ROI = Gain From Investment - Cost of Investment/Cost of Investment
When you know how much perk fulfillment will cost.
Example -  if we figure out that a certain perk costs $5 per copy, S&H costs $5, then we know the perk will cost $10. If the perk level is $20 and the cost to fulfill the perk is $10, ROI = 1.
$20 - $10/10 = $10/$10 = 1

Tip Jar: A button you put on a site so people can tip you, typically these buttons are link-backed to a PayPal account.

Look for another crowdfunding article next Monday. As always any tips, recommendations and requests just comment at the bottom.

Thanks for reading,

-Dave
http://DaveBullis.Com 

CrowdFunding 100: Kickstarter Reaches over $1 Billion in Donations & New Series

A few years ago, I was at a film event chatting with several producers. The conversation naturally steered towards funding when the producers I was speaking to agreed that crowdfunding was a fad and would never take off into the mainstream. No matter how I presented by counter argument they were convinced it was going to die out soon...

Yesterday, Kickstarter officially passed the $1 Billion dollar mark for donations. What does this mean? Well for starters, it shows that;

1. Crowdfunding is now mainstream & accepted. 

2. CrowdFunding (in all it's forms) is the future
3. Those producers from above were dead WRONG (obviously)

Gone are the times when only a certain few, who were in the know, could raise funds (As long as you have a quality campaign). Thankfully crowdfunding has been growing each year, not just Kickstarter but the other platforms as well.

Below are the Top Countries & Territories stats via Kickstarter 

1. United States: $663,316,496 (no surprise here that the US leads this by a wide margin). 
2. United Kingdom: $54,427,475
3. Canada: $44,913,678
4. Australia: $31,776,566
5. Germany: $21,607,047
6. France: $10,131,159
7. Japan: $7,139,419
8. Sweden: $7,150,257
9. Netherlands: $7,033,026
10. Singapore: $6,710,981

Kickstarter also gives out  two very key statistics', the average donation per day and time of month.
Using this to plan your campaign accordingly we know that the 'best' day of the week is Wednesday and "the best" time of the month is the 13th.
Remember though, the most important factor is the strength of your network.

In the coming Mondays, I am starting a new series that will focus on crowdfunding piece by piece. I've ran and consulted on numerous crowdfunding campaigns, so the advice I give won't be the same bullshit fluff I've seen passed off in other articles.

If there's anything specific you'd like me to cover let me know in the comments.

-Bullis
http://DaveBullis.com

2014 Oscars

My Picks: 

Best Picture: (Tie) The Wolf of Wall Street Nebraska Best Director: Martin Scorese Best Actor: Bruce Dern Best Actress: Judi Dench Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o Best Original Screenplay: Nebraska Best Adapted Screenplay: The Wolf of Wall Street Best Animated Film: The Wind Rises Best Foreign Language Film: The Hunt Best Documentary (Feature): The Act of Killing Best Documentary (Short): Prison Terminal Best Live Action Short Film: * I didn't see any of these Best Animated Short Film: * I didn't see any of these Best Original Score: Gravity Best Original Song: Frozen Best Sound Editing: Gravity Best Sound Mixing: Gravity Best Production Design: Gravity Best Cinematography: Gravity Best Make-Up: The Lone Ranger Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby Best Film Editing: Gravity Best Visual Effects: Gravity Chart below copied from Wikipedia.

Best Picture	Best Director
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, and Michael De Luca Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze, and Vincent Landay Nebraska – Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan, and Tracey Seaward 12 Years a Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen, and Anthony Katagas The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland, and Emma Tillinger Koskoff	David O. Russell – American Hustle Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity Alexander Payne – Nebraska Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actor	Best Actress
Christian Bale – American Hustle as Irving Rosenfeld Bruce Dern – Nebraska as Woody Grant Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street as Jordan Belfort Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave as Solomon Northup Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club as Ron Woodroof	Amy Adams – American Hustle as Sydney Prosser Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine as Jeanette "Jasmine" Francis Sandra Bullock – Gravity as Dr. Ryan Stone Judi Dench – Philomena as Philomena Lee Meryl Streep – August: Osage County as Violet Weston
Best Supporting Actor	Best Supporting Actress
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips as Abduwali Muse Bradley Cooper – American Hustle as Agent Richard "Richie" DiMaso Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave as Edwin Epps Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street as Donnie Azoff Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club as Rayon	Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine as Ginger Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle as Rosalyn Rosenfeld Lupita Nyong'o – 12 Years a Slave as Patsey Julia Roberts – August: Osage County as Barbara Weston-Fordham June Squibb – Nebraska as Kate Grant
Best Writing – Original Screenplay	Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay
American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack Her – Spike Jonze Nebraska – Bob Nelson	Before Midnight – Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, and Ethan Hawke Captain Phillips – Billy Ray Philomena – Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope 12 Years a Slave – John Ridley The Wolf of Wall Street – Terence Winter
Best Animated Feature Film	Best Foreign Language Film
The Croods – Kirk DeMicco, Chris Sanders, and Kristine Belson Despicable Me 2 – Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud, and Chris Meledandri Ernest & Celestine – Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, and Peter Del Vecho The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki	The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium) in Dutch – Felix Van Groeningen The Great Beauty (Italy) in Italian – Paolo Sorrentino The Hunt (Denmark) in Danish – Thomas Vinterberg The Missing Picture (Cambodia) in French – Rithy Panh Omar (Palestine) in Arabic – Hany Abu-Assad
Best Documentary – Feature	Best Documentary – Short Subject
The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen 20 Feet from Stardom – Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, and Caitrin Rogers Cutie and the Boxer – Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher Dirty Wars – Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill The Square – Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer	CaveDigger – Jeffrey Karoff Facing Fear – Jason Cohen Karama Has No Walls – Sara Ishaq The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life – Malcolm Clarke andNicholas Reed Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall – Edgar Barens
Best Live Action Short Film	Best Animated Short Film
Aquel no era yo (That Wasn't Me) – Esteban Crespo Avant que de tout perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) – Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras Helium – Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson Pitääkö mun kaikki hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) –Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari The Voorman Problem – Mark Gill and Baldwin Li	Feral – Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden Get a Horse! – Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim Mr. Hublot – Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares Possessions – Shuhei Morita Room on the Broom – Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
Best Original Score	Best Original Song
The Book Thief – John Williams Gravity – Steven Price Her – William Butler and Owen Pallett Philomena – Alexandre Desplat Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman	"Happy" from Despicable Me 2 – Pharrell Williams "Let It Go" from Frozen – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez "The Moon Song" from Her – Karen Orzolek and Spike Jonze "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom – U2 "Alone, Yet Not Alone" from Alone Yet Not Alone – Bruce Broughtonand Dennis Spiegel (nomination revoked)[10][11]
Best Sound Editing	Best Sound Mixing
All Is Lost – Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns Captain Phillips – Oliver Tarney Gravity – Glenn Freemantle The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Brent Burge and Chris Ward Lone Survivor – Wylie Stateman	Captain Phillips – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, and Chris Munro Gravity – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, and Chris Munro The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Tony Johnson Inside Llewyn Davis – Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, and Peter F. Kurland Lone Survivor – Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, and David Brownlow
Best Production Design	Best Cinematography
American Hustle – Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler(Set Decoration) Gravity – Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin andJoanne Woollard (Set Decoration) The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration) Her – K. K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration) 12 Years a Slave – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration)	The Grandmaster – Philippe Le Sourd Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael Prisoners – Roger Deakins
Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Best Costume Design
Dallas Buyers Club – Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa – Stephen Prouty The Lone Ranger – Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny	American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson The Grandmaster – William Chang Suk Ping The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin The Invisible Woman – Michael O'Connor 12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris
Best Film Editing	Best Visual Effects
American Hustle – Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse Dallas Buyers Club – John Mac McMurphy[12] and Martin Pensa Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger 12 Years a Slave – Joe Walker	Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, and Neil Corbould The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon,David Clayton, and Eric Reynolds Iron Man 3 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, andDan Sudick The Lone Ranger – Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, and John Frazier Star Trek Into Darkness – Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, and Burt Dalton

- Bullis

http://DaveBullis.com

Twitter: @Dave_Bullis