Year: 2011

After insipid subject matter, complete avoidance of emotional truth, ignorance of film history and the effects of representation, I think the redundant and derivative film language of most films is what truly gets my goat.

Cliches are not without their power and use, but it’s not a bad rule of thumb to try to avoid them at all costs. The great things about them is that cliches are easy to learn — and then hopefully easy to avoid.

It would be great to have a a check list. If I managed a film viewing community I would hand out badges to everyone that spotted and marked a cliche in a movie. I would love to see the list of what films and filmmakers traffic most widely in them.

But I guy can’t have everything he wants, and I have to say I am pretty content in what I have in this regards anyway. Film fans world wide have taken control of their culture and have made a hilarious collection of short films parading the cliches in all their glory. I have featured a few of these when they came my way inthe past. But now FilmmakerIQ have done us all a tremendous service and collected MANY of them on one page.

If you ask me these should be playing in constant rotation in the lobbies of film schools the world over. We are so connected to each other now, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t police ourselves from such fatal flaws.

Suffice it to say that I was so impressed with FilmmakerIQ’s post, that I couldn’t restrict myself to a simple tweet.

What? You claim you can’t make it to my “mogul” talk at TIFF. So, what are you doing this October? Among other things, I am going to the 27th Warsaw Film Festival. The very same international film fest where my wife’s production THE IMPERIALISTS ARE STILL ALIVE! last year won the 1-2 Competition. This year though I am headed for a very special event.

Ages ago, the Olympia WA Film Festival, the Philadelphia Film Festival, and the Waterville Maine Film Festival all did tributes to me. I love all those festivals but they are small regional American Festivals. So when an A-List International Film Festival told me that they wanted to do a celebration of my work, but even better, they wanted to celebrate my work alongside that of my friend and fellow collaborator Christine Vachon I did a little leap of joy.

I don’t know if you saw it, but this friday, Variety reported, that the Warsaw International Film Festival was going to be putting on a really good show this year. After all the really important stuff, there was this paragraph:

Other WFF highlights include the Killer/Hope Celebration, an event dedicated to the careers of two leading independent Gotham producers: Killer Films’ Christine Vachon and Ted Hope (Good Machine, This is that, Double Hope). WFF’s program will include a selection of their works, and both Hope and Vachon will be in town for a producers master class.

We actually don’t have the master class booked yet, so if you know anyone in Warsaw that wants to sponsor us, give us a shout won’t you?

Tax credits and subsidies for the film business are job stimulus. As a producer asked to ALWAYS squeeze a buck, I simply won’t shoot my films where the tax credits are not. Luckily I live in the wise and wonderful state of New York, that has one of the best tax subsidies for film and television any where in the world, not to mention the BEST talent pool in the universe too.

But it’s not the only place to go. The Incentives Office offers a clear MUST READ review of the state of the union of where to go for how much.

I received this email from The Incentives Office today. You should visit their site to receive such emails yourself.

Although many states have curtailed or terminated their incentives programs, others have expanded or enhanced their programs. There is still a substantial amount of money available – to find it:

THE INCENTIVES OFFICE TELLS YOU WHERE TO GO…

Alabama – $6 million available now, with new funds will be available on October 1st. $10 million annual cap.

Alaska – $50 million is available. Alaska has no caps on talent or projects, but requires a CPA audit to sell their 30-44% credits.

Colorado – $500,000 remains for their 10% rebate.

Connecticut – no annual cap. Regulations have tightened up for this (up to) 30% transferable credit.

Florida – (film only – see below for television). Only Florida resident cast and crew qualify, plus FL goods and services.

Georgia – 20% transferable credit, plus 10% uplift for logo (totaling 30%), requires audit/tax return. New sound stages, lots of post facilities. No annual ceiling.

Hawaii – refundable credit of 15% to 20%, requires a tax return. No annual cap.

Illinois – only resident cast and crew qualify, but Chicago is a major production center. Transferable credit of 30%. $100,000 per hire cap, but no annual ceiling.

Indiana – $2.5 million remains for the remainder of this calendar year.

Louisiana – top choice of producers, transferable credit of 30%, plus 5% bump for resident labor. The state redeems credits at 85 cents after CPA audit, or they can be sold (brokered). Many films now in prep or pre-production, so crew is getting strained. No annual ceiling, and three great stages.

Massachusetts – 25% transferable credit; state redeems at 90 cents. No caps or ceiling, and the credits are easy to sell after CPA audit.

Mississippi – a rebate of 25% for materials and non-resident crew, 30% for resident crew, $1M per hire cap. “The Help” was shot in Mississippi. Not a lot of crew depth, but growing. New sound stage in Canton. Costs are low, and the state is eager for production. $18 million is available.

Montana – refundable credit of 9% to 14%. No annual cap.

New Jersey – $14 million available, but half of this will be gone very soon, as earlier shows complete their submissions. 20% transferable credit, sellable after the CPA audit.

New Mexico – annual allocation is $50 million, for this 25% refundable credit which requires a NM tax return. First come, first served; if funds not available when you apply, you wait a year. Depending on total amount, credits awarded over 1, 2 or 3 years.

New York – fiscal year started July 1st, so new funds are available. Below-the-line credit of 30%, payable over 1-3 years with filing of NY state tax returns.

North Carolina – refundable credit of 25%, $1M per hire cap, and project cap of $7.5M. NC requires a tax return. No annual ceiling.

Pennsylvania – Some funds remain, but not for long. However, applications are stil being accepted, as films may drop out of the queue, freeing up funds for new projects.

South Carolina – $14 million currently available for their 10% to 30% rebate.

Texas – The incentive has now been raised to 15% for video game production. The previous rate was 5%. Only Texas resident cast and crew qualify, plus TX goods and services.

Utah – $11 million of fully refundable credits at 25% (with tax return), $3 million for 25% cash rebates (up to $500,000 per project).

West Virginia – $10 million annual cap, $10 million available. 27-31% credits.

AND WHERE NOT TO GO (FOR NOW)

Arizona – program was allowed to sunset, new legislation was defeated.

Florida(television only) – funds for the TV queue are exhausted, and without new legislation, new application will not be accepted.

Missouri – the film commission was not funded.

Idaho – program is not funded.

Iowa – program has been terminated.

Ohio – all funds gone until next fiscal year. Applications are being accepted in case something drops out of the queue

Oklahoma – no funds available until fiscal 2013, which starts July 1, 2012. Applications will be accepted beginning January 1, 2012.

Oregon – a good program, but they are out of funds until July 1, 2012.

Washington – program was allowed to sunset.

Wisconsin – allocation of $500,000 per year.

OTHER LOCATIONS TO CONSIDER

California – all funds allocated. Applications will be accepted starting June 1, 2012, for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2012.

Michigan – Funds currently exhausted, but $25 million via a grant becomes available October 1, 2011. $2M cap per hire, and qualifying rates vary from 30-42%.

Minnesota – $1 million has been allocated; please contact the commissioner for details. Rules and requirements will change – no additional information is available.

Even if we are not in it for the money, it does not mean we shouldn’t be rewarded fairly for our knowledge, labor, services, expertise, relationships, and talent. It doesn’t happen much. If you are either starting out or already at an expert level, what can you expect to earn producing in the American Indie Film Industry, circa 2011.

It is often said by financiers that one of the problems with the film biz is that producers do not have enough “skin in the game”. They frequently think that the services Producers provide may not be worth the price they pay. I beg to differ, and I think if they feel that way they are working with the wrong producers.

I think a fair rule of thumb of what to pay for an expert producer, is five percent (5%) of negative costs, subject to a cap based on precedent. If one is not a true producer (i.e. there and responsible for everything from beginning to end), then one is not deserving of that full fee.

But you don’t start there. You need to work your way up to that fee.

So…

What does an indie producer get paid on a film?
2-5% of “budget” — depending on experience.

What is a fair initial salary?
2%: $50K for $2M, w/$25K increase per $1M increase in budget

What kind of cap is fair?
cap at $150K until 5 films produced
cap at $250K until you have a hit
cap at combined director & script fee
increase the cap if you are coming off a hit;
5% of negative cost, up until a budget level of $40M, with balance going on backend.

What does a producer fee mean in terms of earning a living?
Well, to answer that you have to answer a few other questions:

How long does it take to get a project made?
5.5 years (generally speaking)
development 2years
packaging 6 months*
financing 1year
production/post 1year
distrib/mktg.fests 1year

What is the annual take-home for a film
Annual starting producer salary for a $3M film (2%) = $10,900 /yr
Annual starting producer salary for a $5M film (2%) = $18,181 /yr
Annual starting producer salary for a $10M film (2%) = $36,363 /yr

Annual experienced producer salary for a $3M film (5%) = $27,272 /yr
Annual experienced producer salary for a $5M film (5%) = $45,454 /yr
Annual experienced producer salary for a $10M film (5%) = $90,909 /yr

The hard reality is that the American Indie Film Biz average budget is probably below $3M these days. It is the range I expect most of my movies to be in these days. Recognizing what it costs to live in NYC, it looks like one might need to produce 5 -10 features a year to make it work. It doesn’t leave much room for a hands-on craft-oriented approach to producing. A volume business is generally thought to be the antithesis of quality. Content can’t be king if no one is willing to pay for it. Clearly at these fee levels producers have a tremendous amount of “skin in the game” because the only way this could equal a career is if one is betting on the upside of the backend and winning.