A summary of my thoughts on the Winston Baker Film Finance panel at the Venice Film Festival. In short, things are tricky out there and especially for drama.
Thanks. Very concise. This movement away from drama seems to reflect a wider distrust of real life, of the fundamental divisions that's plunging politics and social life in the toilet. With so much rage and prejudice today, we can only laugh at it, or escape altogether into horror and fantasy. While important, the data stuff is just an evasion, which is annoying. because the audience is still there. People always want to have their experiences disseminated intelligently.
Many Canadians get frustrated that Telefilm and BC Creates mostly fund drama films here, but it's the only way they get made. Sadly, many of the films are lost after completion and a festival run because the requirements of Telefilm for theatrical and distribution are slim and do not favor Canadian cinema. But, some producers are learning that if they tap into private funding and use that for the amazing tax incentives here (ie in Sas, they give you 30-40% before you even go to camera) or in Kelowna, you are looking at 55%+ when you file your taxes, there are some amazing incentives here for indy film if your prioritize and utilize Canadian spend.
Every one of our productions have been funded in a different way. I guess we like to experiment. Sometimes we are the first to do something and then others duplicate it. We have several international productions we are working on and some domestic projects for which we are using quite unusual means of financing, that could put our investors into profit, even before the film is released.
Thanks. Very concise. This movement away from drama seems to reflect a wider distrust of real life, of the fundamental divisions that's plunging politics and social life in the toilet. With so much rage and prejudice today, we can only laugh at it, or escape altogether into horror and fantasy. While important, the data stuff is just an evasion, which is annoying. because the audience is still there. People always want to have their experiences disseminated intelligently.
Many Canadians get frustrated that Telefilm and BC Creates mostly fund drama films here, but it's the only way they get made. Sadly, many of the films are lost after completion and a festival run because the requirements of Telefilm for theatrical and distribution are slim and do not favor Canadian cinema. But, some producers are learning that if they tap into private funding and use that for the amazing tax incentives here (ie in Sas, they give you 30-40% before you even go to camera) or in Kelowna, you are looking at 55%+ when you file your taxes, there are some amazing incentives here for indy film if your prioritize and utilize Canadian spend.
Every one of our productions have been funded in a different way. I guess we like to experiment. Sometimes we are the first to do something and then others duplicate it. We have several international productions we are working on and some domestic projects for which we are using quite unusual means of financing, that could put our investors into profit, even before the film is released.