On July 28, nearly 100 DGA members gathered in the DGA National Headquarters Boardroom to participate in an Incentive Summit presented by the AD/UPM/TC Mentor Committee in cooperation with the Runaway Production Committee. The participants were treated to a step-by-step process of how to obtain film finance incentives from a panel of leading industry experts from key U.S. States.
The evening opened with a welcome from AD/UPM/TC Council Chair Kim Kurumada, and AD/UPM/TC Mentor Committee Chair Randy Turrow. Runaway Production Committee Chair Liz Ryan then gave a brief overview of the outsourcing industry jobs and DGA Government Affairs Executive Kathy Garmezy updated the members on the latest in Federal Legislation.
The panels began with "Framing the Challenge" where Sony Pictures Television Head of Movies and Mini-Series Production, Gideon Amir; feature producer Doug Claybourne; and moderating DGA Member D. Scott Easton discussed approaches to keeping productions local.
Easton also moderated the second panel, "State Tax Incentives: Two Examples" where the New Mexico representatives were production manager Lester Berman, attorney Peter Dekom, Lisa Strout of the NM Film Commission; and the Louisiana panelists were Mark Smith from the Governor's Office of Film & Television Development; and Oley Sassone, Sally Perry, Kelton Longwell and William Legier of the LA company The Source.
Liz Ryan then instructed members where to find more information before the evening was opened up for questions from the audience.
Participants were also issued a handbook that included up-to-date comparison and flow charts, information on the myriad of legal and financing agreements used in different incentive transactions, additional sources of obtaining financing and information on how the studio/network system decision process works and how to do co-productions.
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