http://www.publiclaw-events.com/investing-in-film-using-irs-section-181-for-federal-tax-credits-vs-new-markets-real-estate-credits/

AND HERE’S A PDF FROM THE GOVERNMENT:

http://admin.filmdoctor.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Section-181-12-4-08.pdf

Here’s a bit of the example in the UK….

Film partnerships have traditionally provided a means of sheltering income and capital gains from tax, and were introduced in 1997 with the aim of helping to finance the UK film industry. They involve sale-and-leaseback deals on the distribution rights of films that have already been made. Film partnerships have been particularly useful to people with significant income tax bills; as the rules allowed sheltering of income for up to three years back. Tax breaks designed to encourage the British film industry have existed for more than 10 years. ‘Section 42′ relief allowed the cost of producing ‘British’ films to generate a loss which can be offset against other income over a 3-year period. ‘Section 48 relief’ was more generous and allows the loss to arise entirely in the first year of the partnership. (but see below for changes to the UK’s film tax relief regime.) In either case the loss could be used against income in the year of the loss or in the previous three years. Film partnerships have traditionally required a 15-year commitment, and have usually been financially complex, but the film partnership scheme attracted about GBP500mn in investment in its first two years. (However, complex schemes based on Film Partnerships became the subject of anti-avoidance legislation included in the 2006 Finance Act, which largely removed their advantages.) Given that Section 48 relief was due to expire in 2005, further film partnership products were developed which did not rely on specific legislative tax breaks. In addition, the definition of ‘British films’ was amended to exclude TV films. This greatly reduced the number of qualifying films and increased the cost of sale and lease back schemes. Changes to the film tax relief regime in the 2002 Finance Act included measures to restrict the main tax relief for British qualifying films with budgets not exceeding GBP15mn, to production expenditure which has been paid at the time the film is completed, or is unconditionally payable within four months of the date the film is completed.

Check out this website for more!

http://www.lowtax.net/

1. Upfront Service fees, finders fee, legals, bank charges, travel cost, etc….   ANY OFFER THAT MAKES YOU PAY FOR A SERVICE TO GET TO THE MONEY.  - EVEN REAL BROKERS ONLY GET A PERCENTAGE AFTER CLOSING.

2. Sending “Seed” money…      ANY OFFER THAT MAKES YOU PAY A PERCENTAGE OF FUNDS TO GET MORE. ( Especially if it’s overseas! ) – DON’T SEND THE MONEY YOU’LL NEVER SEE IT AGAIN.

3. The Funder / Funding Source has no track record of ever funding a film…    IF THEY HAVE NEVER FUNDED A FILM THEY WON’T CLOSE ON YOUR DEAL. – SO STOP WASTING YOUR TIME.

cheers

geo

I advice anyone who wants their film to LOOK good, to make sure it SOUNDS good. The sound for a film, whether doc or drama, will raise the perceived quality or destroy the perceived quality of the picture. Sound is 51% of the movie going experience. DO NOT CUT CORNERS on the mix.

If you are forced to mix in a room that is not a calibrated Dub stage. ( and again DON”T DO THIS! )… set up the room the best you can. If you are dealing with near field monitoring, then set the speakers to 82 DB and not 85 db. calibrate appropriately with pink noise, then insert the X-curve ( film curve ) into the MONITOR CHAIN. DO NOT insert it into the record chain. Once you are monitoring through the equalized speakers, re-calibrate all speakers to 82 db again. note the subwoofer used for the LFE material should be calibrated at +10 above as the mix LFE channel needs to be printed at -10 so it in the right place in volume at the theater. ( the theater b-chain has the subs calibrated at +10db higher than the main channels ) Also, placement of speakers is critical. There is the distance from the mix position, the angle, whether you are mixing with microperf between you and the speakers ( like in the theater ), placement of the sub. making sure everything in IN PHASE, The number of surround speakers / channel you are monitoring through.

if you haven’t mixed a film before don’t try this at home folks, get a trained pro…

Here’s another pice of trivia… The best sound position in a movie theater is 2/3 back dead center from the screen. That’s where most of the big sound houses place their mixing boards and work positions, hence that’s where you’ll get the best sound in the theater.

In theory, the theaters are setup and calibrated the same as the dub-stages. In real life not all theaters maintain proper calibration.

dig deeper on this site to find out more.

cheers
geo

You can edit your audio in FCP in SUB-FRAMES if you want, here’s how:

You can apply audio keyframes to part of a frame and adjust the position of an audio frame relative to a video frame. These adjustments, called “subframe audio editing,” are useful for audio editing at the sub-frame level (using keyframes) or synchronizing sound and video in tiny increments (using a slip edit).

Audio and Video may sometimes be out of sync due to a phenomenon called subframe slipping.

Audio and video do not share the same unit of measure, with video being captured in fields or frames and audio being captured in samples.

The following steps appear in the Final Cut Pro user’s guide and may be used to sync audio and video tracks to resolve subframe slipping.

To adjust audio keyframes:
1. Open the clip in the Viewer and click the Audio tab.
2. Using the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) in the Tool Palette, zoom in as far as possible. The wide playhead bar in the Viewer represents one video frame at full magnification.
3. Move the playhead to the exact location in the audio waveform you want.
4. Click the Add Keyframe button in the Viewer.
5. Adjust the Level (sound volume) or Pan/Spread (sound placement) slider as desired.
6. To make further changes, move the playhead to a new position and adjust the sliders again.

To perform an audio subframe slip edit:
1. Open a clip with both video and audio in the Viewer and click the Audio tab.
2. Using the Zoom tool (magnifying glass) in the Tool Palette, zoom in as far as possible. The wide playhead bar in the Viewer represents one video frame at full magnification.
3. Press the Shift key and position the left edge of the playhead where you want to set an In or Out point, using the audio waveform as your guide.
4. Click the Mark In or Mark Out button. The program automatically slips the audio by a subframe amount to the boundary of the previous whole frame.

When capturing a large amount of data, using the recommended “setup” or better is preferred. For example, capturing audio and video to separate drive arrays would be the most preferred method for high-end projects. Disabling audio compression and reducing the “resolution” of the audio being captured may also help alleviate “bandwidth” issues that can cause timing delays.

If timing issues continue to occur, resetting the camera or deck or restarting the computer should resolve the issue.

cheers
geo

Try this:

I recommend that you simply write down your story to the best of your ability. Don’t worry about getting it “right” just get it written down. go as much into detail as you have thought of on scenes or just brush through them. But get the plot, the idea, written down. Then just keep tweaking it with more and more detail until you have a solid story concept on paper. If you think of a great dialogue line or two, here and there, add them in.. If not. don’t worry about it. If you have a vision of a scene ( location, time of day, something in the scene) add it in… if not just tell the story as simply as possible in the spots.. If you have a vision of a character, write it down. description. or even just pick an actor you like for the part and use their real name and description as you toss this together…. once you have the basics on paper it will be much easier to sort out a scene here and there and come up with a dialogue line in various spots. don’t worry about format, function, proper english, spelling… just write it down…

Then once you have the story beginning , middle and end basically sorted out… find a Ghost write, or a co-writer to compile the story with dialogue for you. USE A WORK FOR HIRE. USE A WORK FOR HIRE…. USE A WORK FOR HIRE…. did I mention that you should use a WORK FOR HIRE contract? If I didn’t I suggest you get a WORK FOR HIRE CONTRACT and get it signed with ANYONE that touches the script of offers suggestions. It can be a work for hire for one dollar or a lot of money…

Get an attorney to write a WORK FOR HIRE contract with these basics.
But make sure it states:
ALL WORK IS “WORK FOR HIRE”
THE WRITER WILL BE PAID __________ for their work.
THEY ARE GHOST WRITING and will receive NO CREDITS for their work
or
THEY WILL RECEIVE Additional writing credit or other credit as you desire.

The most import thing after having a great script is having a great script that has a CLEAR CHAIN OF TITLE!!!!!

Enjoy the process and have fun telling a compelling and great story!

cheers
geo

ps: did I mention about getting a WORK FOR HIRE competed before you let anyone help you?

pps: also – as soon as you have a story basically competed in rough form COPYRIGHT it and register a copy with the WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA you can find the electronic registration at http://www.wgawregistry.org/webrss/
it’s cheap and start to give you a legal track of ownership. Once you have the script completed you can register the final script as well as do another copyright. The WGA is cheap and easy to do.

Each music library license will vary to a certain degree but as a general rule royalty free music simply means that you have purchased a “lifetime sync license” for a given song or group of songs. In other words, you have the right to synchronize the music with your audio and/or video productions an unlimited number of times without incurring any additional expense.

This “life-time sync license” is normally how sound effect libraries work. buy the library and use the library forever as long as its used within the rules of the license.

cheers
geo

1. own the access… own the show. (at least until they find another talent with similar aspects)
2. Trusted Show Runners / Producers only
3. Characters, Consequences, Comedy, and Conflict…
4. as stated above: work on 10 ideas and maybe, maybe 1 will fly. (if your lucky…)
5. timing and patience is everything… just ’cause its a great idea doesn’t mean its right for the network today…. but wait!… it might be perfect in 6 months or a year from now…
6. Don’t expect to produce your show. EXPECT to get a small fee or a buy-out at best, at least the first time. at worst… expect it to get copied…
7. Don’t pitch to too many people ( shot-gunning ) it’ll just make you and the show look desperate…
8. work the idea… then work it again… and again.. and again… until it’s really really ready. you only get one chance at that first look.
9. Don’t over design the show… Networks want Characters and their world… they don’t really want a “finished” show… too limiting.
10. Network exec’s are like Elephants when it comes to remembering what you don’t want them to remember… Again. Don’t over design the show… They may want exactly what your talent and their world are all about, but your show’s IDEA is all wrong. Now you’ll never get past the OLD idea to pitch the world and the characters…

cheers
geo

10=95dB
9.5=93.33dB
9.0=91.66dB
8.5=90dB
8.0=88.33dB
7.5=86.66dB
7.0=85dB
6.5=83.33dB
6.0=81.66dB
5.5=80dB
5.0=78.33dB
4.5=76.66dB
4.0=75dB

I responded:
2-pop – one frame visual and audio mark 2 seconds before first frame of action. the audio is normally a -20db 1 khz tone. The visual can be a number of things from a white frame, bars, or a text card. The white frame or bars are my choice for visual reference to audio on playback.

The tail pop is the same, except that is can be placed anywhere at the end of the project, after last frame of action, it does not have to be 2 seconds after. But where ever it is place, it should be noted correctly in corresponding documentation. Placing sync pops is still highly recommended and can help in both maintaing sync across editing platforms and transfers of material in a project path.

It can also help to troubleshoot any sync issues that may arise. These sync markers are frankly more important on low budget projects where you may run into personnel that may more readily make a mistake from lack of experience.

You can also utilize the 2-pop within a count down at the beginning of a reel or project.  Count downs can start at 10 seconds or 5 seconds and offer a “count” at the full second mark, ending on the 2-pop.
I use them in all my picture and sound work.

Used in television production and filmmaking post-production, a 2-pop is a 1 kHz tone that is one frame long and placed 2 seconds before the start of program. It is a simple and effective method of ensuring synchronization between sound and picture in a video or film.

A 2-pop is typically placed at the end of a visual countdown. Only the first frame of the “2″ is shown, and the remainder of the 2 seconds prior to the program is black. This provides a unique point of reference where the frame-long image and frame-long sound should align, similar to the way a film clapperboard is used to generate a synchronization point.

For example, in a video program the first frame of action (FFOA) starts at one hour (typically timecode of 01:00:00:00 in the US, and 10:00:00:00 in the UK), preceding that, 1 frame (or the 2-pop) of tone would be placed at timecode 00:59:58:00 or exactly 2 seconds before first picture.

A 2-pop is useful whenever picture and sound are handled separately. For example, projecting work-in-progress in the pre-video days involved a film projector linked to a magneticdubber, onto which the separate soundtrack reel was loaded. Aligning them by the 2-pop would ensure proper synchronization during playback. A modern scenario would involve sending a soundtrack to a separate facility for a sound mix. The returned product is a computer audio file which then needs to be synchronized again with the picture.

cheers
geo