Shoot Colorado Film News: Colorado film-incentive program substitutes innovation for more funds

 

by Alan Svaldi, The Denver Post

Colorado is pulling back the curtains on two incentive programs it hopes are innovative enough to lure more film and television productions to the state.

“We fell out of the game because of our incentives,” said Donald Zuckerman, a former film producer who revamped the state’s incentives after he took over the Colorado Office of Film, Television & Media last year.

Incentives have gone from nice extras that producers used to plug budget shortfalls to necessary financial pillars that cover about 20 percent of production costs, said Jeff Steele, a film-finance expert in Los Angeles and Chicago.

The key attraction that states use is a refund or rebate of production expenses, in either cash or tax credits. Not unexpectedly, the states and countries that offer the most generous incentives with the fewest restrictions are winning the most new business.

New Mexico offers 25 percent, Louisiana up to 35 percent and Michigan up to 42 percent, which Colorado’s previous incentive of 10 percent couldn’t come close to matching.

To read the full article, click here!

Shoot Colorado Launches Their First Newsletter

Our Shoot Colorado film partners have just launched their first newsletter - the Shoot Colorado News!

Shoot was founded by Daniel Taras, who also started Crew New Mexico! Pay attention to our industry friends one state north - great things are happening there!

"Dear Filmmaker,

There's no place in the world like Colorado, so I built a film guide like no other - Shoot Colorado, a 100-page, town-by-town profile of an entire state prepared especially for the production industry.

The vision for Shoot Colorado is to help attract more features, commercials, documentaries, reality, TV, outdoor and photo shoots to our state. The method is to insure productions know the depth of our locations and resources and to make Shoot a principal asset for the film community. 

New towns are joining the site every week, I keep an active blog and have busy Facebook and Twitter accounts. I've also just launched what will be the most extensive Colorado Film Locations Database available - it's brand new, watch it grow! Plus, I've got a mailing list of many thousands of contacts in Colorado, New Mexico, LA and beyond who will be hearing about the exciting develpments in our industry.

It's also my pleasure to facilitate business with "shout-outs" and ads for Colorado companies such as entertainment lawyers and newsletter sponsors Replin Rhoades & Ratner and "Featured Filmmaker of the Month" Henry McComas and Crooked Lake Productions. But most of all it's been a great honor to work with the Office of Film Television and Media to bring you Shoot Colorado and they deserve the biggest shout-out of all!
  
Now that Shoot is fully launched, I'm spending a busy summer doing a "film tour" of Colorado to meet and catalog incredible filmmakers, crew and production vendors. It's been a pleasure to help connect the dots between them and see a more interactive industry. Great things are already happening in several communities, and for Shoot Colorado. I look forward to sharing the news with you in the coming months.

Congratulations on your efforts toward the new film incentive program. I look forward to seeing one of the world's most lucrative and creative industries return to the Colorado economy. 

Best wishes, and be in touch.
 
Daniel Taras
Founder, Shoot Colorado
an iFilm Colorado Production
(303) 668-4366
Send an Email"

Special Screening - Come Back Africa - a Don't Miss!

The Santa Fe Film Festival Presents:

A Limited Run of a new 35mm print of Come Back Africa

One Week Only!

Join us Opening Day
Saturday, June 23, 2012

Santa Fe Film Festival Chairman Jason Suttle will introduce Peter Grendle, manager of The Screen, who will be on hand to offer insights on the film's historical context and artistic importance.

A truly seminal work, Lionel Rogosin’s 1959 secretly filmed Come Back Africa pulls back the curtain on the harsh reality of life under the now-abolished South African apartheid government.

“A heroic film… a film of terrible beauty, of the ongoing life it captured and of the spirit embodied by Rogosin and his fellow artists.”   —Martin Scorsese

For more information visit: http://www.santafefilmfestival.com

For showtimes: visit: http://thescreensf.com 505/473-6494

Colorado Film Incentives and Shoot Colorado

Colorado Film and Shoot Colorado are Making Production Industry Headway

We think it's important to know what's happening in our neighboring states with regards to their film incentives, not because they should be considered "competition" but because film is a transitory and fluid industry that increasingly requires film professionals to be geographically mobile. Knowing what your neighbors are up to is a great way to stay in touch with the pulse of the industry.

With that in mind, the state of Colorado has recently upped their film incentive program from a paltry 10%  rebate to 20%, and also providing a state-backed guarantee on 20% of a production loan. The finer details of the program are now being released, but they're looking to attract 3-4 indy features per year in the $5-$10m range. The focus is not big studio features, firstly because the total pot of incentive $ is small ($4m), but because they're focused on hand-picking films that will most benefit Colorado (diverse locations around the state, upping tourism opportunities).

The Colorado Office of Film Television and Media has also recently released a 100-page website dedicated to bringing production business to the state. Shoot Colorado (shootcolorado.org) gives more than 80 communities their own film web-page featuring location information, production resources, photos and local production contact information. Again, the focus is on insuring that people and places around the state feel involved and a part of the film world, and that each area of the state is equally visible to productions.

The director of the Colorado Film Office, Donald Zuckerman, is also a Hollywood producer who knows the ins and outs of the business - and the Governor has thrown his support solidly behind the industry.

Stay tuned, because they're creating what looks like a sustainable, long-term model for a successful production industry. It's a small program, so I wouldn't expect NM to lose production business, but there's always things to be learned by how other states are managing their film industry.