News
June 17, 2016
June 17th News Report from your Los Angeles Representative
Weekly Update from Kelly Graham-Scherer, Los Angeles Representative
Happy Friday everyone,
The recipients of the latest round of California's television tax credits were announced this week, marking a year since the state's incentives program more than tripled in value. As reported in the Los Angeles Daily News below, 11 TV shows were awarded tax credits,including American Crime which will relocate from Texas to L.A. for its third season.
http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20160613/new-production-incentives-are-paying-off-for-local-tv-projects-as-program-ends-first-year
Film permitting and advocacy group FilmLA released its annual report on the state of global film and television production this week and the results made headlines in the trades. As detailed in Deadline below, although production in the UK generated the most spending, California is still the world's top production center, hosting 19 of the 109 top grossing movies, followed by the UK with 15, Georgia and Louisiana with 12 each and Canada with 11.
http://deadline.com/2016/06/los-angeles-film-tv-production-2015-reports-mixed-bag-filmla-1201773518/
Published in concert with all the good news about California's production incentives program was news this week that a former state senator plead guilty to accepting a bribe in exchange for his support of changes to the program. Details are reported in Deadline below.
http://deadline.com/2016/06/former-state-senator-ron-calderon-plead-guilty-bribery-california-film-incentives-program-1201771
I reported last week that Virtual Reality was a hot topic at the recent Producers Guild of America conference: this week two major studios announced investments in VR.
As reported in the Los Angeles Times below, Sony Pictures Entertainment is making a multi-million-dollar strategic investment in New York-based Interlude, a digital firm that helps production companies and advertisers make interactive videos to better target online audiences.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-sony-interlude-20160614-snap-story.html
And upstart Montreal VR firm Felix and Paul has raised $6.8 million in new capital, thanks in large part to an investment from Comcast, the parent company of NBC Universal. As detailed in the L.A. Times below, the company has announced plans to triple its content and double its staff of 35 within the next year.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-felix-paul-vr-movies-universal-comcast-20160615-snap-story.html
Finally this week, the Canadian government is currently embarking on a wide-ranging review of Canadian content regulations. The Financial Post this week published a detailed interview with Federal Heritage Minister Melanie Joly on what that could mean for Canadian content creators and consumers. http://business.financialpost.com/news/no-netflix-tax-but-the-future-of-cancon-is-up-for-debate-says-heritage-minister-melanie-joly
Kelly Graham-SchererLos Angeles Representative
Toronto/ Ontario Film Office