The Value Add+
I've launched a newsletter over on Substack. It enables me to grow my audience with their tools and at the same time write about new initiatives and changes in the business that have come about since VALUES was published.
There is both free and premium content. The subscription for the premium content is minimal and pays for itself with the special offers I get from various services. The posts go out once a week and so far, they have been getting a lot of traction, so have a look.
I will be posting the previews here that go out to the general public. This week I look at HOW TO LEVERAGE LOCAL FILM COMMISSIONS to get your project made and to get hired.
Last week we looked at why a great script isn't good enough to get your project moving. Today, it's staffing up a production with local film commissions, and why that is more important to investors.
Over the course of my career I have moved to no fewer than a dozen various regions to work on a short-term gig (that often turned into a long-term one). And one of the first things I do in a new location is put myself on the regional film commission directory. Every city and state and international region has some version of this directory.
According to one source, there are over 1,000 film commissions in over 100 countries.
The ones who do it well, have it built right into their website’s resources, where somebody comes to the region and they need to staff up, they provide a directory for everybody as a local resource. Most incentives that come through tax credits or tax rebates, have requirements that a certain percentage of local talent be employed on a film in order to get the maximum benefit. So they try to make it as easy as possible for productions coming into the region. And today, there is no level of production that does not consider these tax incentives when deciding, where to shoot. Anyone who helps productions raise financing will insist upon it, and it really doesn’t matter what level the budget is. I have a project that is very low budget and team financing has analyzed the tax breaks inside and out for various regions, regardless of the fact that I had already done the research and director and team had already decided on a location. Thankfully, they agreed with our choice, but that didn’t stop them from doing due diligence.
So, your research of crew for the region should start with searching the local production database. The funny thing that’s happened with me over the course of my career is that I still get hit up for jobs in places that I haven’t lived in over a decade. Most of these databases keep your information until you tell them to take it down. So you could be getting work just by having your information in a local film commission’s database. This is one of the first things I tell people to do when they start complaining that they don’t live in LA or New York and they don’t know how to connect with other filmmakers, or how to get on-set experience. It astounds me how few people actually leverage their regional film commission database. Or keep their contact information up-to-date.
Also, if you’ve read the news lately, you know that most people are leaving LA because there’s just not enough work for regular crew. And most of this is because their tax incentives are not as favorable as they are in other states and countries, so most productions aren’t happening in LA. Your meetings, some post production and development still benefit from being in what was once the heart of the industry, and a lot of celebrities still live here. But, there are a lot of celebrities who also have homes in Texas, New York, New Jersey, Florida, and other countries. Spain is becoming a huge destination for filming and a lot of well-known celebrities have actually moved since the presidential election.
Now that it’s becoming more commonplace to film in other regions, line producers are relying on local film commissions to not only provide a database, but also provide qualified crew.
How do they know if someone in the database is qualified? How do line producers know without going through a rigorous interview process for a job that is only going to last a few weeks in most cases?
There is a really cool service that will certify you for specific positions and add your profile as a certified professional to a growing GLOBAL DATABASE.
My readers get a nice discount…
Plus access to The Industry Beware, where this week I continue by look into Coverfly.
