CHICAS PRODUCTIONS: Variety

Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It was once so rich that Concorde used to fly from Caracas to Paris. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed. Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing people and animals that are dying of starvation. The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it!!! Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty. People queue for hours to buy food. Much of the time they go without. People are also dying from a lack of medicines. Inflation is at 82,766% and there are warnings it could exceed one million per cent by the end of this year. Venezuelans are trying to get out. The UN says 2.3 million people have fled the country - 7% of the population.

Showing posts with label Variety. Show all posts

Friday, October 12, 2012

IFP chief's lessons in survival...

Vicente talks about challenges facing today's filmmakers

By VARIETY STAFF

IFP exec director Joana Vicente sees inflated pic budgets in Europe.

Absent the government coin common in Europe, the Independent Filmmaker Project has stepped in to help pics like "The Myth of the American Sleepover," above, "Blue Valentine" and "Pariah."

'Blue Valentine'

'Pariah'

Few people have an inside view of the indie film world like IFP executive director Joana Vicente. Since arriving in New York from her native Portugal in 1989, she's produced or exec produced more than 40 features with her Open City Films partner and husband, Jason Kliot. Three years ago, she began leading the Independent Filmmaker Project, addressing the concerns of its 10,000 members. Vicente spoke with Gregg Goldstein from Berlin during the Trans Atlantic Partners producer networking program (run by IFP, Germany's Erich Pommer Institut and Canada's Strategic Partners) about the challenges facing filmmakers today.
Soft money and TV are inflating Euro indies.

"There are regional tax incentives everywhere in Europe, and there's federal money supporting co-productions. And television, (has) to buy (a certain) amount of films (made locally). (It creates) these inflated budgets, and there's not the same necessity to recoup the budget and pay money back, because a lot of it is soft money.

"Fox example, IFP's Trans Atlantic Partners brings together eight American, eight Canadian and eight European producers with projects that have international elements and could potentially become co-productions. The Europeans and Canadians have huge budgets -- $8 million, $10 million, $14 million -- and our American producers all came in with realistic budgets that are a million, $500,000, $350,000. Some of the European films are incredibly exciting, but (you think), 'Wow, you have a second-time director, you don't really have a major star and you have $10 million?' But they're different models."

The global economic crisisis making financing less reliable.

"Some filmmakers are concerned about the stability of the funding. A number of programs throughout Europe have been cut; filmmakers don't feel that their financing sources are as secure as they may have once hoped they were.

"There have been moments when you start hearing more people are funding films, and then, even though the funds might be there, maybe it's getting harder to get that money. Then again, people are doing very successful crowdsourcing campaigns, and there are still so many organizations like Artists Public Domain (on which Vicente is a board member) and Cinereach, giving out small grants and money through foundations."

Film's basic business model mixes many platforms, rights.

"Filmmakers are thinking about different rights, the best VOD platforms, international sales, or an international festival strategy where they can make money just by getting projection fees. They have to be that much more creative about selling themselves as filmmakers, creating a brand and increasing their value."

Know your financing scheme.

"Jason and I are still working on a number of projects, including 'Devil's Pool.' In order to be eligible for European funding (the drama, centering on George Sand and Frederic Chopin, is set in France), we have to work with a European director; we couldn't get any European financing with an American director, and that was a result of the climate in Europe during the crisis."

Streaming model still elusive

"We don't have 'The Blair Witch Project' of VOD (laughs). There just hasn't been a model that's been extremely successful, where we can say: 'This is how it works, this is how much money is made, this is why, and this is how much we spend to get there.' It's all still a little confusing."

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Leading Variety bidder is owner of National Enquirer...

Avenue Capital, a New York hedge fund whose holdings include the parent company of the National Enquirer, is now the leading bidder for Variety.

A late entrant in the sales process being run by Variety corporate parent Reed Elsevier, Avenue had bid more than $40 million, according to a person close to the process who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Avenue invests primarily in "distressed and undervalued assets," according to its website, and has $12 billion worth of holdings.

If it succeeds in purchasing Variety, Avenue probably would merge the back-end operations of the financially troubled 107-year-old trade newspaper with American Media, according to the New York Post, which first reported the news.

Along with the Enquirer, American Media's publications include Men's Fitness, Shape, Radar Online, and Star.

American Media is co-owned by Avenue along with other former bondholders including Angelo Gordon & Co.

Billionaire supermarket magnate Ron Burkle had been considered the leading candidate to purchase Variety by insiders. However, he has recently fallen behind other interested parties, the knowledgeable person said.

Another top bidder is Penske Media, the owner of online Hollywood trade outlet Deadline.com. Penske is being backed by private equity firm Shamrock Capital Advisors.

It remains to be seen whether Avenue is able to close a deal for Variety, which has seen its financial state deteriorate amid declining advertising and increased competition online.

If not, both Burkle and the Penske/Shamrock team remain in the wings.

A spokesman for Avenue Capital did not respond to a request for comment.

Thank you Los Angeles Times

Tax incentives face scrutiny...

Tax incentives face scrutiny
Breaks to be extended, but climate cools
By TED JOHNSON

As California Gov. Jerry Brown grapples with a beleaguered California budget, he is still expected to extend the state's production incentives.

Production tax breaks, which have bloomed across the country over the past decade, have shown surprising resiliency in the face of state budget cuts. In California, which some observers says is on the brink of bankruptcy, Gov. Jerry Brown is set to extend the state's $200 million in production tax incentives.

But the question is, what happens next? This year's presidential campaign has been tinged with talk of tax reform and, if there is a genuine drive in this direction on the part of Washington as it grapples with the so-called "fiscal cliff" later this year, it is not too much of a stretch to think that talk of reform could extend to other levels of government, including the 38 states that have some form of production sweeteners.

Pressuring states against further incentives are two orgs on opposite ends of the spectrum, the left-leaning Center on Budget & Policy Priorities and the right-leaning Tax Foundation, which have for several years challenged the benefits as little more than giveaways that don't return lasting jobs.

"When it comes to film credits, it is better to receive than to give," says Jon Shure, director of state fiscal strategies for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The MPAA, meanwhile, has countered with its own reports and research, and characterizes the tax orgs' premises as misleading. It points to states like Michigan, which, after having scaled back its incentives significantly, restored $25 million to the program for fiscal year 2013. Even in Iowa, where a criminal investigation surrounding abuses of incentives ensued, there is some talk of re-starting a program in limited form.

Incentive programs grew over the past decade, often because states without tax credits feared that they would lose out on productions.

Yet some of the strongest advocates of credits say that more state film offices face a growing burden of transparency -- to show where jobs are being created, or whether money is being spent in-state, as a way of ensuring that the benefits aren't being enjoyed elsewhere.

Earlier this year, Ernst & Young released a study commissioned by the MPAA that was, not surprisingly, generally supportive of the idea of incentives. But it also cautioned that programs shouldn't be measured just by how much state and local government coffers recoup, but rather via a host of other factors that boost the private sector.

The Ernst & Young research states: "If a film is successful in generating tourism, the economic and fiscal impacts can be substantial. For example, if a successful $10 million film production induces 100,000 visitors to a state over several years, these visitors would spendmately $34 million during their visits on lodging, meals, entertainment and other purchases. In a typical state, this spending would create 310 direct and indirect jobs and $1.2 million of additional state and local taxes."

The tax orgs question the assumptions of a ripple effect from Hollywood production. But no matter whose statistics are more correct, it's hard to imagine that more indiscretions like the one in Iowa, in which production money ended up helping to buy a filmmaker's Land Rover, will be tolerated at a time when the issue of fiscal reform may soon hit the front burner.

MTV's "Jersey Shore" once again put New Jersey on the map, but last year, Gov. Chris Christie blocked nearly a half-million dollars in production tax credits, perhaps seeing the political danger of the words "Snooki" and "snookered" in the same headline.

Thank you Variety

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Apple awarded $1 billion in Samsung patent case

Federal jury rules Samsung violated Apple's copyright on tablets, smartphones

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- After a year of scorched-earth litigation, a jury decided Friday that Samsung ripped off the innovative technology used by Apple to create its revolutionary iPhone and iPad.

The jury ordered Samsung to pay Apple $1.05 billion. An appeal is expected.

Apple Inc. filed its patent infringement lawsuit in April 2011 and engaged legions of the country's highest-paid patent lawyers to demand $2.5 billion from its top smartphone competitor. Samsung Electronics Co. fired back with its own lawsuit seeking $399 million.

During closing arguments, Apple attorney Harold McElhinny claimed Samsung was having a "crisis of design" after the 2007 launch of the iPhone, and executives with the South Korean company were determined to illegally cash in on the success of the revolutionary device.

Samsung's lawyers countered that it was simply and legally giving consumers what they want: Smart phones with big screens. They said Samsung didn't violate any of Apple's patents and further alleged innovations claimed by Apple were actually created by other companies.

Samsung has emerged as one of Apple's biggest rivals and has overtaken Apple as the leading smartphone maker.

Samsung's Galaxy line of phones run on Android, a mobile operating system that Google Inc. has given out for free to Samsung and other phone makers.

Samsung conceded that Apple makes great products but said it doesn't have a monopoly on the design of rectangle phones with rounded corners that it claimed it created.

The trial came after each side filed a blizzard of legal motions and refused advisories by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to settle the dispute out of court.

Deliberations by the jury of seven men and two women began Wednesday.

Samsung has sold 22.7 million smartphones and tablets that Apple claimed uses its technology. McElhinny said those devices accounted for $8.16 billion in sales since June 2010.

Apple and Samsung combined account for more than half of global smartphone sales.

As part of its lawsuit, Apple also demanded that Samsung pull its most popular cellphones and computer tablets from the U.S. market.

From the beginning, legal experts and Wall Street analysts viewed Samsung as the underdog in the case. Apple's headquarters is a mere 10 miles from the courthouse, and jurors were picked from the heart of Silicon Valley where Apple's late founder Steve Jobs is a revered technological pioneer.

While the legal and technological issues were complex, patent expert Alexander I. Poltorak previously said the case would likely boil down to whether jurors believe Samsung's products look and feel almost identical to Apple's iPhone and iPad.

To overcome that challenge at trial, Samsung's lawyers argued that many of Apple's claims of innovation were either obvious concepts or ideas stolen from Sony Corp. and others. Experts called that line of argument a high-risk strategy because of Apple's reputation as an innovator.

Apple's lawyers argued there is almost no difference between Samsung products and those of Apple, and presented internal Samsung documents they said showed it copied Apple designs. Samsung lawyers insisted that several other companies and inventors had previously developed much of the Apple technology at issue.

The U.S. trial is just the latest skirmish between the two tech giants over product designs. Previous legal battles were fought in Australia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

The U.S. case is one of some 50 lawsuits among myriad telecommunications companies jockeying for position in the burgeoning $219 billion market for smartphones and computer tablets.

A jury has ruled for Apple in its huge smartphone patent infringement case involving Samsung and ordered Samsung to pay $1.5 billion.

The verdict was reached Friday.

In its lawsuit filed last year, Apple Inc. had demanded $2.5 billion while accusing Samsung of ripping off the design technology of iPhones and iPads.

During closing arguments at the trial, Samsung attorney Charles Verhoeven called that demand ridiculous and asked the jury to award Samsung $399 million after claiming Apple used Samsung Electronics Co. technology without proper compensation.

The two companies lead the $219 billion market for smartphones and computer tablets. They are enmeshed in similar lawsuits in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia.

Thank you Variety!
More info: www.variety.com
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New coin boosts African filmmakers

New coin boosts African filmmakers
Sub-Saharan region still lags in growth of film industry
By CHRISTOPHER VOURLIAS

"Soul Boy," from Tom Tykwer's Nairobi-based One Fine Day Films, was a hit at international film festivals, including Berlin.

S. Africa pic biz looks for solid ground

Despite producing such auteurs as Ousmane Sembene, Souleymane Cisse and Djibril Diop Mambety, the slow growth of film in sub-Saharan Africa is largely a story of unrealized potential.

While film industries have blossomed in developing nations from Southeast Asia to Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa lags far behind the rest of the world. Apart from an emerging biz in South Africa, African countries are struggling to develop sustainable industries, with just a handful finding modest success with the low-cost, straight-to-DVD model pioneered by Nigeria.

Yet African filmmakers today have more access to funding than ever before, and a host of initiatives are spurring a quiet revolution that, in the next few years, will herald the arrival of a generation of new voices telling a continent's untold stories.

Global film funds like the Berlinale's World Cinema Fund, Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund, the French-funded World Cinema Support and the Global Film Initiative continue to provide vital financial support to filmmakers in Africa and across the developing world. A growing number of satellite festivals -- and Africa programs at established fests -- are pushing emerging talent into the global eye.

Combined with a host of smaller initiatives targeting the support of local businesses, these developments are giving filmmakers the skills and knowledge to connect to established industries, says Matthijs Wouter Knol, of the Berlinale's Talent Campus, which for the past five years has run a pan-African campus in collaboration with the Durban Film Festival. On a continent where formal film schools are lacking, such programs are often the first chance aspiring filmmakers get to learn about the mechanisms of international financing and distribution.

The benefits are also more tangible. Participants in Focus Features' buzz-generating Africa First program get U.S. distribution, which helps bring exposure to a film that might otherwise not have gotten it, says Completion Films prexy Kisha Cameron-Dingle, who runs the program.

At this year's Durban fest, French TV network Canal France Intl. introduced an initiative called Haraka! that will award €10,000 ($12,293) to 12 African filmmakers to produce short films, which Canal will distribute across its platforms in Africa and Europe.

The broader impact on local film industries in Africa is hard to quantify. Rotterdam's Janneke Langelaan says that part of the Hubert Bals Fund's success lies in the possibilities it creates for aspiring filmmakers. "(It sets) into motion an awareness that this is the sort of film that they can do," he says.

Berlin's Knol notes that most of the program's graduates not only work with and develop local talent when they return to their countries, but transfer vital knowledge and creative energy to their peers.

"They're sort of the epicenter of a lot of things happening around them," Knol says.

Deeper engagement has been happening on a smaller scale. In the past few years, East Africa has become a hub of up-and-coming talent, thanks to collaborations between local industries and foreign filmmakers.

Indian helmer Mira Nair's Maisha Film Lab in Kampala has brought a wave of emerging talents to the Ugandan capital. Tom Tykwer's Nairobi-based One Fine Day Films draws participants from more than a dozen countries for its annual workshops, which result in collaboration on a feature film. The group's first pic, "Soul Boy," has screened at several big festivals around the world, including Berlin, Edinburgh and Palm Springs, since its release last year; their sophomore effort, "Nairobi Half Life," by Kenyan helmer Tosh Gitonga, was one of the most talked-about films at this year's Durban Film Fest.

In Rwanda, American helmer Lee Isaac Chung's shingle, Almond Tree Rwanda, has helped put that small country on the map, with a number of promising shorts screening in fests like Tribeca and Rotterdam. Encouraged by Chung's support, the Almond Tree team has gone on to offer its own training and mentoring programs, enabling an energetic production base to grow around them.

Where small, homegrown industries exist, these programs can act as a catalyst. In the words of Cameron-Dingle, "We can't stimulate something that doesn't already exist in some form."

Perhaps most importantly, a generation of young filmmakers is emerging across Africa with a global vision that reflects the realities of life on the continent today. Rapid urbanization, the continent-wide penetration of Web-enabled mobile phones, and the ubiquity of satellite TV in middle-class African homes means that a young filmmaker in Nairobi might feel a stronger creative kinship to his peers in Mexico City, Sao Paolo or Jakarta than to a cousin in rural Kenya -- or to the so-called "calabash cinema" of past African greats.

Knol says that the young helmers he meets at the Talent Campus are asking the same questions as their American and European counterparts about crowdfunding, VOD platforms and cheaper, more nimble technologies.

Thank you Variety

More info: www.variety.com
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How to invest in showbiz...

Choices among entertainment-only funds are limited
By JOSEPH LISANTI

People who want to invest in the market but don't want to choose individual stocks often turn to funds. There are thousands of portfolios and lots of options to pick from, but for those who want just entertainment and media stocks, choices are limited

.
Two relatively pure showbiz funds are Fidelity Select Multimedia (FBMPX), an actively managed traditional open-end mutual fund holding about 60 stocks, and PowerShares Dynamic Media Portfolio (PBS), an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on an index of 30 media companies. Investors can buy FBMPX for a minimum of $2,500. There's no sales charge, and the expense ratio, or annual operating fee, is 0.90%. In the year ended June 30, the Fidelity fund has outperformed the PowerShares portfolio by a difference of about 8.6 percentage points.

As an ETF, PBS trades like a stock throughout the day, and investors can buy a single share (recently $15.62), though they may have to pay brokerage commissions. The expense ratio is 0.63%.

Several funds have the word "leisure" in their names but have a broad definition of leisure. One such fund holds Home Depot shares as its second-largest position. Maybe its managers think putting up drywall is entertaining.

Thank you Variety

More info:www.variety.com

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U.K. aiming to lure U.S. productions

U.K. aiming to lure U.S. productions
Tax-incentive strategy would also help keep homegrown shoots
By LEO BARRACLOUGH

"Episodes," produced for Showtime and the BBC, is set in Los Angeles, but shot in the U.K.

"Downton Abbey," which shoots in the U.K., is one of the few Brit-produced shows to do so.

With the U.K. government set to introduce in April what's likely to be a generous tax incentive for big-budget TV productions, it appears that the sector, given a shot in the arm by the success of "Downton Abbey," might be on the verge of a true breakout -- and Hollywood is taking notice.
While "Downton," produced by NBC-Universal's London shingle Carnival and shot in the U.K., is the exception rather than the rule -- most high-budget TV shows produced by U.K.-based companies are not lensed in Blighty -- with tax credits on the horizon, that is set to change. Many see a future that offers heightened worldwide marketability for U.K.-produced fare and increased collaboration with the U.S., underscored by speculation recently that Sony Pictures Television is interested in buying Blighty's Left Bank Pictures.

The tax incentive plan is hazy, with details still being formulated, but a U.K. production biz lobby group, the TV Coalition, is pressing for the incentive to be based on the nation's film tax credit. If its proposals are adopted, the incentive would be worth 20% of the U.K. spend, with a requirement for a minimum budget level of £1 million ($1.6 million) for an hourlong.

As well as persuading productions to stay home, the incentive could also lure more U.S. network shows to Blighty. At present, even skeins that could be considered culturally British are shot elsewhere. For example, Showtime's "The Tudors" and Starz's "Camelot" used locations in Ireland.

For most U.K. producers, shooting locally is too expensive when there are countries nearby that offer production tax incentives.

"Parade's End," Tom Stoppard's adaptation of the Ford Madox Ford novels, shot 43% of its scenes and undertook more than 80% of its post-production in Belgium. U.K. production house Mammoth, which produced the series for HBO, the BBC and its international sales arm BBC Worldwide, says that if a tax incentive had been in place, the lion's share of the filming and almost all the post-production would have taken place in the U.K.

Even countries some distance away attract Blighty TV productions. Action series "Strike Back," which Left Bank produces for Cinemax/HBO in the U.S. and satcaster BSkyB in the U.K., is shot almost entirely in Hungary and South Africa.

According to a recent report by Stephen Bristow, associate director at media consultancy RSM Tenon, and Charles Moore, a partner at law firm Wiggin, a 20% tax incentive is likely to bring more than $545 million in additional production spending per year to the U.K.

High-end TV drama is very mobile in terms of location, and the existence of a tax credit is central to a country's appeal, the report states. "HBO, for example, said that 10 years ago, 10% of their production spend was shot in locations where incentives were offered. Today, this figure has increased to 85% of their total production spend," the report notes.

Armed with a tax incentive, the U.K. could become a rival even to Canada in vying for U.S. network shows, says Andy Harries, chief executive of Left Bank, which produces Kenneth Branagh-starring crime series "Wallander" for WGBH Boston and the BBC, as well as features, such as "The Queen."

"(The U.S. networks) will be looking to the U.K. in the same way that they look to Canada: If it is cheaper to (film) in the U.K. and they can deliver a product that works in their domestic market, they will(come)," Harries says.

Maria Kyriacou, managing director of ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the U.K. broadcaster's international distribution arm, says U.S. cable networks already are far more willing to consider shows from international producers.

"There are lots of opportunities right now for co-productions and for them to buy shows," Kyriacou says, adding that streaming outlets such as Netflix and Hulu have been having success with some of their high-end dramas.

Kyriacou says that incentives could mean more spending-power for U.K. production companies, enabling them to add well-known thesps or high-end special effects that improve the chances of sales in the international market.

"Recognizable talent helps people pay attention to the shows," Kyriacou says. For example, the casting of Jeremy Piven as the lead in costume drama "Mr. Selfridge," which ITV Studios Global Entertainment is distributing, is helping the show's worldwide sales. In the U.S. "Mr. Selfridge" has been picked up by PBS' "Masterpiece," home to "Downton Abbey."

According to Harries, incentives might lead to a growing number of shows that combine the best of U.S. and U.K. creative talent. "What probably one would try to achieve is some kind of hybrid that will have some American casting for sure, but somehow marries American and English content satisfactorily, (and will play in both countries)," he says. "The tax break will undoubtedly add energy and financial imperative."

Harries points to comedy series "Episodes," produced by the U.K.'s Hat Trick Prods. for the BBC and Showtime Networks, as an indication of the way the biz may develop. Set in Los Angeles, the show stars Matt LeBlanc, and is penned by Hollywood scribes David Crane ("Friends") and Jeffery Klarik ("Mad About You"), but is shot almost entirely in the U.K. Production for the second season included a six-day shoot in Los Angeles for exteriors, but the rest of the show was shot at London studios, and at locations around the city that doubled for Los Angeles.

Hat Trick wouldn't reveal the budget, but Harries says he was told it was about half to two-thirds of what it would have been if it had been shot in the States.

And with incentives, that number would be friendlier still.

Thank you Variety

More info: www.variety.com

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Hope you'll found the information you expected,
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Show contact info

Friday, October 12, 2012

IFP chief's lessons in survival...

Leading Variety bidder is owner of National Enquirer...

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tax incentives face scrutiny...

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Apple awarded $1 billion in Samsung patent case

Apple awarded $1 billion in Samsung patent case

Federal jury rules Samsung violated Apple's copyright on tablets, smartphones

New coin boosts African filmmakers

Thursday, August 23, 2012

How to invest in showbiz...

U.K. aiming to lure U.S. productions