News
February 12, 2016
Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative: February 12, 2016
Happy Friday everyone,
Spending last week at the CMPA's Primetime Conference in Ottawa was a great opportunity for me to catch up with a lot of you and to get some new insight into the concerns and issues on the domestic production landscape. This has been a banner year for both Canadian film and television and there was an optimism and energy at the conference that has motivated me to work even harder to help provide opportunity for Ontario stakeholders.
The changes that are coming to Canada's cable television system on March
1st were not just a hot topic at Primetime: they are making headlines in Los
Angeles as well. A prominent column in the LA Times this week praised
"pick and pay" and talked to Consul General James Villeneuve about
what is described as Canada's "consumer-centric" approach to things.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20160209-column.html
The latest round of California tax incentives were awarded to 13 feature
films this week. As detailed in Variety below, the latest
application period — the fourth overall for the recently expanded tax credit
program - was held from Jan. 11 to 24 and drew 174 applications.
http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/california-film-tax-incentives-it-annabelle-2-star-is-born-1201702311/
While it's been a few weeks since Movie Maker magazine released
its annual list of the best places to produce film and television, I only
noticed it this week when Georgia-based media widely touted Atlanta's number
one designation. The full list is linked below and contains no mention of
Toronto, or indeed any cities outside the US.
http://www.moviemaker.com/archives/news/2016-best-places-big-cities/
The first scripted series to be distributed via the photo-sharing
platform Instagram made its debut this week. As detailed in Deadline
below, non-traditional social and digital media platforms are becoming
increasingly involved in content generation and distribution.
http://deadline.com/2016/02/scripted-series-shielf-5-to-bow-using-instagram-1201694503/
Finally this week, we all know that a lot of people watch the Superbowl
for the commercials and this year it seems a lot of those people are
watching the commercials on their phones. As reported in the L.A. Times
below, Super Bowl 50 could go down as the tipping point for a new phenomenon:
viewers playing back the ads on their smartphones right after they watch them
on TV.
www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-superbowl-youtube-ads-20160211-story.html
You'll find the full text for the linked articles below my signature. Please feel free to distribute this e-mail widely and to get in touch with comments or links for inclusion.
Warmest regards,
Kelly