Categories
Issues and Actions

181 Renewed! Indie Filmmakers Rejoice!

Why does this matter? Zak Forsman tweeted it nicely: ” if tax payer is in 35% tax bracket and the film’s shot in a state with a 42% credit, investor’s eligible to get 77% of her investment back.”

To go a tad deeper, Zak Forsman posted it well:

Minutes ago, I received this email from my friend and fellow filmmaker, Justin Evans.

Dear Film Professionals –

Section 181 has finally been renewed! The new Tax Bill was signed into law by President Obama earlier today. The tax law includes Section 744, which includes language that replaces IRS Section 181’s expiration date of December 31, 2009 with December 31, 2011.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-111hr4853enr/pdf/BILLS-111hr4853enr.pdf

Here is what this means:

  • Any money spent on qualifying domestic film production* in 2010 now qualifies for the Section 181 tax write-off.
  • Any money spent on qualifying domestic film production* in 2011 will also qualify for the Section 181 tax write-off.
  • There is no gap in Section 181 protection…which means all the fear and worry that someone might have begun a project in 2009, somehow didn’t get the financing in place and investors invested in early 2010 can now breath a sigh of relief.

Read all of what Zak has to say about it here. Thanks Zak!

Categories
Truly Free Film

Rise Up & Curate! (Part 2 of 2): Cinefist and Live Events

Today’s guest post is once again from filmmaker Zak Forsman. Yesterday we ran part one of this post.

Now, it should be pointed out that we are not alone in trying to aid the floundering LA indie scene. There are two other LA based screening series that we have partnered and networked with. Cinema Speakeasy by Saskia Wilson Brown has had great success hosting short film workshops where the audience is invited to offer creative feedback on films in post. Film Courage Interactive, hosted by Karen Worden & David Branin, bookends their screenings with a indie film quiz show with sponsor-donated prizes and a filmmaker therapy session of sorts where filmmakers discuss the more pressing issues of the day. All of us are building a network that we hope will grow into an alternative to film festivals, where the filmmaker can make a little dough showing their movies.

Experience has taught us that many filmmakers we invite to participate often need guidance and motivation. For that reason we have adopted a tiered revenue-share model where the first 40 seats go to the venue, the next 40 go to the filmmaker and the last 20 go to CINEFIST. Anything over 100 ticket sales are split evenly. In addition to having to first satisfy the venue’s cut, the filmmakers need to meet promotional commitments in order to participate in the box office sales. It’s not automatic. Having the filmmaker push and promote can often be the difference between 15 people or 150 people attending the event.

Categories
Truly Free Film

Rise Up And Curate! (Part 1 of 2): CINEFIST AND LIVE EVENTS

Today’s guest post if from filmmaker Zak Forsman.

If you haven’t heard of CINEFIST yet, let me explain what it is: myself, Kevin Shah, Jamie Cobb, Neha Shah and Erik Reese — all members of the Sabi Pictures family — needed a new company to separate the production of our films from the distribution and exhibition of them. CINEFIST was born out of that need. When people ask, I say “it handles all things distribution and exhibition.”

If you were to visit the web site you’d see that in addition to an online store (selling DVDs, soundtracks and posters), there is a section for our Quarterly Los Angeles Screening Series and some tools and services on the horizon like our own VOD portal, a private invitation-only community forum, and a digital cinema census. For the purposes of this article I’m going to focus on the screening series, why we started it and what we’ve learned about live events.

In September 2009, I was reading this blog, Ted’s blog, and an new article entitled “18 Actions Towards A Sustainable Truly Free Film Community”. In that article he listed a number of areas where a member of our community could deepen their involvement through mentoring, collaborating, learning, evolving and more. As I went through the list, I was happy to note that we were doing each of these in one form or another with one exception — curating. We weren’t involved in supporting other filmmakers’ work or elevating our local community’s awareness of the works we admired.

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

How Do You Make The Miraculous Happen?

Sabi Pictures’ third episode of “The New Breed” is “Planning For Discoveries”.

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

The Repercussion Of Your Choices

“The New Breed” kicked off Episode One with “Nothing You Have To Have”. It’s a great series on the creative process brought to you by Sabi Pictures courtesy of Filmmaker Magazine and The Workbook Project.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 1 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

Engineer Serendipity

“Beginning, middle, and an end — but necessarily in that order” — so today it’s Episode 2 from “The New Breed”.  Featuring Julius Onah, filmmaker Jeff Malmberg, actress Trieste Kelly Dunn , director Brett Haley, and yours truly.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 2 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.

Categories
Let's Make Better Films

Protect The Integrity Of The Story & The Emotional Truth Of The Characters

I was fortunate to take part in episode 6 of Sabi Pictures’ “The New Breed”, a co-production of Filmmaker Magazine and The Workbook Project. They shot seven episodes around the LA Film Festival this year and really put together something nice.

NEW BREED LOS ANGELES – Episode 6 from Sabi Pictures on Vimeo.