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SoCalCat

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  1. I applaud Mr.Altman's comments, in the sense that there are only a few directors like him who've taken much of a public stand on this issue in the face of producers and executives who have been pressuring filmmakers to take their shoots out of the country. The effect of globalization has had a noticeable effect on the dynamics of the industry the last ten years. Canada pretty much started the trend with the aggressive tax incentives (put less politely, bribes) to producers to shoot up north; the objective was, quite blatantly, to grab as much US production as possible. Money talks; last year Ottawa drastically cut its funding to local, Canadian-made programming while upping tax credits to foreign production shooting in the province---when it came down to a question of profiteering over encouraging local cultural product, guess which side the toast got buttered? Funny thing is, not even the much-vaunted Canadian film industry's safe from being undercut by cheaper possibilities. With movie producers acting like junkies trotting the globe in search of cheaper labor, more generous tax breaks and lower currency exchanges, Canada's lost out on projects like "Cold Mountain" (which Miramax once tried to cajole Anthony Minghella into moving to Canada, after the U.S. was completely written out of the equation) to Eastern Europe where considerations like a living wage and union regulations are almost non-issues for a good majority of the labor hired for a production. The fast-rising Canadian dollar also closed much of the gap in 2003-2004, so producers are now flocking to Australia and New Zealand since it's now seen as both cheaper and fashionable to relocate Down Under for big-budget productions. That said, the best thing American film workers can do is lobby harder than ever for federal tax incentives, in order to stay competitive in the world market---New Mexico and Louisiana have done this very aggressively and have made themselves very competitive places to shoot. The rules, like it or not, have changed and instead of wasting time waiting for random actors and directors with clout to move shoots back to the US on American workers' behalf, or trying to turn back the clock, our effort should be directed at lobbying Washington to show a little love (and if they can throw $87billion+ at the Iraq war effort, some little tax incentives for the tv/movie industry should be a drop in the bucket)....
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