NEWSgrist - where spin is art

Save New York State's TV and Film Tax Credits

I have just read and signed the following online petition:

via  http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Zablocki/:

To:  Governor David A. Paterson

February 6, 2009

David A. Paterson
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224

518-474-8390

To: Governor David A. Paterson
CC: Speaker of the Assembly/Assemblyman Sheldon Silver,
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm A. Smith

We are writing to you today, on behalf of the thousands of men and women employed in the film and television industry in New York State. A recent article in the New York Post, titled “Cut! And Run Looms: NY Out of Film Lures”, reported that the successful state program that provides tax credits to lure television and film productions to New York has run out of money. The report goes on to say that “A Paterson spokesman said yesterday that there is no additional funding for the tax credits included in his latest budget proposal.” This is alarming.

With an unemployment rate of over 7%, now is not the time to cut programs that create jobs and foster new businesses in our state. This program is proven to be highly successful and at a time when this industry needs all the help it can get, you must rethink the true impact of not funding this valuable program.

According to a 2007 study by Ernst and Young, the state and city combined have issued $690 million in tax credits and have collected $2.7 billion in taxes from movie and television productions. This program pays for itself! It helped create over 7,000 jobs, directly, in 2007 and over 12,000 jobs indirectly.

As you are aware, New York City has seen a surge in new television, motion picture and commercial filming in recent years. The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting reports that in 2002, there were 14,858 NYC location shooting days and in 2008, we reached over 27,250 days. There is a direct correlation between the growth of this industry and the tax credits provided from the state - we need to keep the momentum going, especially during tough economic times.

New York City and New York State have become “Hollywood of the East”. We are finally a player in the international film industry. Please, Governor Paterson, fund the New York State Tax Credit program for television and motion pictures. Real jobs depend on it!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

Please consider signing the petition [link].

Here's a sample of films and television programs currently in production in New York City.

The Film-Maker's Coop Faces Eviction

via Artcal:

The Zine

The Film-Maker's Cooperative Facing Imminent Eviction

By B. Blagojević | Features, News | February 5, 2009

Frank Stella in Hollis Frampton's Nostalgia (Hapax Legomena I), 1973. 16mm in b&w, 36:00. Distributed by the The Film-Maker's Cooperative. Via hollisframpton.org.uk

In a city full of underserved cultural stalwarts, the The Film-Maker's Coop has over the past 40+ years distinguished itself with a rich history of archival, programming, preservation and distribution of avant-garde and radically independent cinema. Before video made self-distribution an attractive possibility for motion picture artists, the Coop was as important a distributor of work as it was a social hub for underground and vanguard film-makers. The roster of historic works housed and distributed there is substantial, to say the least -- and certainly includes works increasingly visible to curators and art institutions rapidly discovering the American avant-garde of the past 50 years.

Art Fag City reports today that the Film-makers Coop has received an eviction notice from MoMA, by way of Art Radio International, who have been subleasing the current Coop headquarters since 2000. The Coop's location provides more than just office space; it's also where the thousands of films, videos, and personal archives of the many artists there represented reside. Safely moving such material would require significant funds currently unavailable to the Coop -- film in particular, for example, is very expensive to safely store and transport.

MM Serra and the FMC Board of Directors urges supporters to write "Department of Cultural Affairs Commissioner Kate D. Levin to support our efforts to remain either in our current building or to move to another, affordable city space. You can write to Kate D. Levin directly at this website."

You can learn more about The Film-Maker's Coop here. Their significant catalog of available films is available for online browsing here.

Sapphire's "Push" on the Big Screen

"Wrenching" doesn't even begin to describe Sapphire's great, disturbing novel the film is based on. Makes Revolutionary Road seem like fun. Is this the year for difficult adaptations?

via NYTimes:

Wrenching Film Poses Marketing Challenge

Gabourey Sidibe in “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire.”  Photo: Anne Marie Fox/Lionsgate

By BROOKS BARNES

Published: February 4, 2009

LOS ANGELES — Dark and depressing rarely does very well at the box office, and with life outside the multiplex so rough these days, people seem to be gravitating toward fluffy fare more than ever.

So when Lionsgate on Monday spent about $5.5 million for the highly regarded award-winning film “Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire,” eyebrows arched all over Hollywood. “Push,” directed by Lee Daniels (“Monster’s Ball”) from Sapphire’s novel, takes grim to a level that many film executives say they have rarely seen on screen. The story centers on an illiterate and obese African-American teenager in 1980s Harlem who is pregnant with her father’s child — for the second time — and is also abused by her mother.

Lionsgate’s recent success lies almost entirely in the horror genre, particularly the torture porn franchise “Saw,” although it has had some luck in a corner of movies condescendingly referred to by the industry as “urban.” The studio, for instance, distributes Tyler Perry’s comedies, which have sold about $248 million in tickets over the past four years.

The studio prides itself on taking on marketing challenges, but “Push,” which won three top awards last month at the Sundance Film Festival — the Audience Award, the Grand Jury Prize and a Special Jury Prize for Acting — is one of the biggest to come along in some time, marketing experts say. African-American audiences of all demographics could wince at the film’s negative imagery. As films like “The Great Debaters” and “Miracle at St. Anna” have shown, a release labeled a black film by the marketplace — and “Push” already has been — can be an incredibly tough sell to mainstream white audiences.

Lionsgate already seems a little befuddled. On Monday the company initially agreed to discuss the inherent marketing challenges. A few hours later it backtracked, rejecting any marketing talk but saying executives would be happy to speak broadly about their delight in nabbing the movie. Before long that offer was also rescinded.

Ultimately the studio’s co-presidents for theatrical marketing, Sarah Greenberg and Tim Palen, e-mailed a statement. “There is simply a gold mine of opportunity here,” the message read in part. “As marketers, our focus is on creating a campaign that honors its strength, guts and beauty.” Lionsgate has not announced a release date for the film, no relation to the “Push” being released on Friday.

The film was a critical hit at the festival, and that roughly $5.5 million is the largest amount paid to date for any Sundance film this year. While $5.5 million might not sound like much for a movie, the average marketing cost for this type of film is $25 million, according to the Motion Picture Association of America.

Outside marketing experts, though, had varying perspectives on the challenges in selling the film, which was adapted for the screen by Damien Paul and stars Gabourey Sidibe, Paula Patton and Mo’Nique. One veteran studio marketer, who would speak only anonymously because he has ties to Lionsgate, said he saw almost no hope in selling it to a broad audience.

Others were more positive, comparing it to “The Color Purple” and noting that the lead character does find redemption, reaching deep inside to pull herself out of a terrible situation. Another hook available to Lionsgate: a passionate following of the book, which was published in 1996. Oprah Winfrey and Mr. Perry have already agreed to help promote the release.

[read on]

Indie Directors Kidnap Juno Star Olivia Thirlby for their Rap Video...

Breaking Upwards Rap Video

Zoe Lister-Jones and Daryl Wein kidnap Juno star Olivia Thirlby and force her to rap in her brassiere. Then they rap about the movie they just made together. Not Juno. A different one.

more about Breaking Upwards: http://www.breakingupwards.com

Breaking Upwards Rap Video - watch more funny videos

HBO: Copyright Hall of Shame?

via Fred Benenson's blog:

We Are One if You Are HBO

photo by jurvetson on flickr

Techdirt is reporting that Against Monopoly is reporting that HBO is sending take down notices to people who have uploaded their own recordings of the Inaugural Concert: We Are One.  I haven’t been able to verify this, but if it is indeed the case, it would seem that HBO is misunderstanding their rights under copyright law. Note that I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice.

Since HBO merely owns the copyright to their recording of the concert, they can’t control what other people were doing with their own recordings from their own cameras. This is because a work is not entitled to copyright protection unless it is fixed. The actual performance that happened that evening wasn’t fixed or copyrighted until it ended up on HBO’s tapes (or hard drives).

If the content of the concert was in the public domain or free (e.g., The Star-Spangled Banner is in the public domain since it was created prior to 1923), then any audience member who recorded it had the right to make a recording of it and distribute that recording since they owned the copyright to the video. Putting aside questions of anti-bootlegging laws (which are arguably unconstitutional and not relevant to DMCA takedown notices), it is not clear that HBO can prevent distributions of privately filmed performances of public domain works that were performed in a public venue, which, if the Against Monopoly report is correct, is what part of what they’re trying to do.

However, according to the Wikipedia page, a lot of non-public-domain non-free content was performed.

Which means that by recording and distributing a live performance of say, a Bruce Springsting song, an audience member might be infringing on the boss’ copyright, but probably not HBO’s copyright. Does anyone know more about bootlegging laws and how they might or might not apply here?

So what right does HBO have to send takedown notices for other people’s works? Sending fraudelent DMCA takedown notices is itself a violation of the DMCA, so if you’ve been threatened by HBO for posting videos you recorded at the inaugural concert, you probably have the right to file a putback, and perhaps take action against HBO. [emphasis ng's]

There are bigger questions, however, about the inaugural committee’s right to leverage tax payer money and support to sell off exclusive rights of a public event to a private entity such as HBO. I’m not clear on whether their status as a legal entity would entitle them to do this.

Anyway, while I would like to see HBO put the concert into the public domain along with other works of the federal government, that is probably impossible as the recording contains works that are in copyright, such as Bruce Springsting songs.

There is the possibility that HBO could put the video but not the audio into the public domain, but I do not think there is an easy work around for including both the audio and video. This is not to say, however, that HBO is justified in sending nasty letters to citizens interested in helping celebrate an important event.

I sympathize with the inaugural committee’s desire to produce and execute a fantastic recording of a historic moment in American history. I know that this kind of production costs money and there must be incentives for creating it. But I think the conflicts between HBO and citizens indicate that copyright is not the proper incentive here. It alienates too many citizens interested in documenting their own version of history, and given the context and content of our current president’s administration, sets the wrong precedent for sharing that history. HBO should be ashamed of themselves.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Copyright, Law, Music, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.