By Robert Goldrich
CARSON CITY, Nevada --Funding for Nevada’s film incentives program has been slashed from $80 million to $10 million covering a four-year period which began back in January. Catalyst for the cutback was legislation signed last week by Gov. Brian Sandoval which provides Tesla Motors with well over $1 billion worth of financial incentives in exchange for the company bringing its battery factory to Nevada. To help offset the cost of the Tesla package, state legislators made other cuts, including $70 million in film subsidies.
Billed as being the largest lithium battery factory in the world and pivotal in the electric car-maker’s plans to begin turning out a more affordable line of vehicles within three years, the Tesla operation will generate, according to projections, more than 20,000 jobs and $100 billion for Nevada’s economy over the next 20 years.
While gains for the state economy relative to Tesla have been estimated, not so the losses in lensing that will result from an 87-plus percent reduction in funding for a program under which companies that spend a minimum of $500,000 and shoot at least 60 percent of their project in Nevada are eligible for a transferable tax credit of 15 to 19 percent of qualified production expenditures. The film incentives package applies to projects ranging from theatrical features to TV, commercials, digital content and branded entertainment. The minimum threshold of $500,000 can be reached cumulatively, meaning that multiple commercials or pieces of branded content, for example, shot in Nevada during the course of the year can collectively qualify for the tax credit.
Eric Preiss, director of the Nevada Film Office, confirmed the decreased funding for the film incentives program. He noted that “all projects that have applied will still be honored and there will be no changes to any existing projects; the only effect is that there will be less total incentives available for future productions. The scope of the incentives remains the same; all previously qualified productions will still qualify, including commercials.”
Preiss added, “There are still funds left in our incentive program to be awarded and our approach will remain exactly the same.”
As earlier reported, among the first projects to tap into the Nevada program was Sony Pictures’ Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.
To retain all its incentives, Tesla must spend at least $3.5 billion in Nevada within 10 years. Half of Tesla’s jobs must also go to Nevada residents, at both the factory which will employ an estimated more than 6,000 people, and for construction which should account for another 3,000 or so jobs. Per the legislation, Tesla will pay no property or payroll taxes for up to 10 years, and no local sales or use taxes for up to 20 years. The Tesla deal also includes another $195 million in Nevada tax credits.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More