Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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New York State Budget Includes Expansion of Film and Television Tax Credits
New York state’s just-passed fiscal year 2024 budget includes an expansion of the New York Film Tax Credit, Governor Kathy Hochul announced yesterday. The amount allocated to the program has been raised substantially, from $420 million per year to $700 million. Additionally, the base credit, which was reduced to 25% in 2020, has been raised to its prior level of 30%. And within the details are other significant changes. For the first time, the New York credit will apply to above-the-line costs. Salaries of writers, directors, “specific producers,” actors, and composers will be eligible for the credit, capped at $500,000 […]
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The Pampero Cinematic Universe: 20 Films in 20 Years
Trenque Lauquen opens with a mystery. Laura, a biologist cataloging plant species in the eponymous town, has gone missing and her husband and a driver she used to work with team up to track her down. The two men share stories and tour the doldrums of the Las Pampas area while beginning to unravel the mystery behind Laura’s disappearance, discoveries that lead to other discoveries and even more questions. Told over the course of 12 chapters and screening in two parts, Trenque Lauquen unfolds like a large map—sprouting stories within stories in a labyrinth of genres, characters and vivid flashbacks. […]
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Camera to Cloud to Remote Collaboration: New Remote Tools and Workflows from NAB 2023
From uploading to the cloud to editing in the cloud to collaborating across the cloud, there was no shortage of new tools and workflow ideas at NAB to help shoot and edit quicker regardless of where your team is located across the globe. Let’s dive into a few of the most interesting updates, from remotely collaborating to remotely working. Camera to Cloud First up, let’s talk about camera-to-cloud workflows. The biggest update from Frame.io was the extension of the C2C workflow to still photos. Now, unlike video where you can use an external device from Atomos or Teradek to add […]
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How AI Will Change Your Future Media Workflow
The two big product updates from Adobe at NAB were text-based editing in Premiere and still photo support in Camera to Cloud (you can read our coverage on Frame.io updates here). But in chatting with Michael Cioni, Adobe’s Senior Director of Global Innovation, things took a fascinating turn when discussing Firefly, Adobe’s generative AI model, and the future of AI in media production. Our conversation explored the integration of AI tools in Adobe’s products, as well as the broader implications of AI-driven technologies on the creative process. Michael shared his insights on how the shift towards generative AI solutions could significantly […]
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Is Final Draft the Final Answer? On Alternatives to the Popular Screenwriting Software
If you’re a screenwriter or want to be a screenwriter, then at some point you will have used Final Draft. Co-founded in 1990 and now in its 12th version, the Final Draft screenwriting software boasts both a user-friendly interface and features related to both outlining and production. Final Draft’s great success—complete with a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award it received in 2013— has led it to become known as the “industry standard” for screenwriting. But at the same time, Final Draft has attracted a fair amount of criticism. Some screenwriters have complained about its high price, glitches, and the specifics […]
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Applications Are Now Open for the Chicken & Egg Pictures Research and Development Grant
Chicken & Egg Pictures has announced their latest initiative, teaming up with Netflix on a $450,000 fund to support women and non-binary documentary filmmakers who have previously made at least two feature films and are currently working toward their next project. As many as 30 filmmaking teams will receive a $10,000 grant for research or a $20,000 grant for development. In addition to the grant, recipients will be provided with “peer support, mentorship opportunities and deeper connections in the documentary film industry.” The Chicken & Egg Pictures Research & Development Grant is accepting applications through 12 p.m. ET on Monday, April […]
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Speaking Volumes: The Production Benefits and Challenges of Shooting on Virtual Stages
For Metropolis special effects artist Eugen Schüfftan, a model, a mirror and a sharp-edged tool were all the instruments required to create cinematic wonder in the 1920s. The mirror—placed at a 45-degree angle in front of the camera—reflected the image of a model cityscape located just out of frame. The tool then scraped away sections of the mirror’s reflective layer, leaving only glass and revealing strategically placed actors in the distance. When the mirror was filmed, the citizens of Metropolis now magically appeared to inhabit the colossal urban dystopia. A century later, virtual production is the latest evolution in cinematic […]
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State Hopping: The U.S. Film Tax Credit Landscape
As the pandemic exited its first lockdowns and film production tentatively recommenced amid overall economic uncertainty, the fate of U.S. tax incentives for feature film and television appeared cloudy. Wrote James Cutchin in the Los Angeles Business Journal on August 20, 2020, “State coffers have been drained after months of lockdowns, starved of key tax revenues and exhausted by the costs of fighting the virus. With states facing such bleak financial outlooks, some wonder whether governments will continue to fund film tax credit programs.” Two and a half years later, those worries have been largely banished. Last fall in an […]
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Late Fees: New York State’s Film Tax Credit Delays
Increasing delays in receiving the New York State film tax credit are affecting profitability and even dissuading some from shooting in the state, say a number of independent producers. What has long been one of the most robust and dependable of tax credits in the nation has become less appealing to producers and financiers due to timelines that can stretch out to five years from the start of principal photography. These lengthening timelines, especially in the face of rising interest rates, affect independent films needing to borrow against the credit more than studio and streamer productions, which are often fully […]
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Filmmakers Explore the Intersection of Arts and Social Justice at VCFA (Sponsored Post)
Students and alumnx of the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Film have been honored by the Center for Arts + Social Justice (CASJ) with fellowships in support of their groundbreaking activism and award-winning work, which brings social issues to a global audience. CASJ recognizes projects that show an indelible commitment to social justice, and creators who seek to inspire community-based change through the arts. Jen Gilomen ’23: Maternal health advocate investigating systemic injustices Brought about by Gilomen’s own birth experience, Delivering Justice explores maternal mortality and the maternal healthcare crisis in the United States, which disproportionately affects women of […]
