MICHIGAN folks!

Don't forget that Michigan has the strongest film incentive program in the country. The government will rebate you 40% of your spent production costs in the form of refundable tax credits, if you spend $50,000 or more. So making a $50k film will really only cost you $30,000.

Plus there's an additional 2% tax credit if you shoot in certain "core communities", bringing the total tax credit to 42%.

Plus, if you hire and train Michigan crewmembers to a "higher level" (I guess that means if you hire a PA and assign her/train her to be a script supervisor or dolly grip or some other higher-paying job) then you'd also be eligible for a "workforce development tax credit."
 
i'm going to try selling one of my kidneys at the farmer's market. if all goes well, we should have enough capital on hand to hire jeff daniels for a at least six or seven minutes AND qualify for all these michigan filmmaker iniatives...
 
Speaking of raising money, instead of selling a kidney, consider that the federal government has extended a tax incentive whereby 100% of an investor's investment in a film is completely immediately deductible the minute the contribution is made.

So -- playing with the numbers, let's say you were going for a hundred grand, and you were asking someone rich who lives in a state like California, or North Carolina, where there's a state tax rate of around 9% to 10%... and you ask that guy for a hundred grand to make a movie.

If he writes you the check, the federal and state governments will effectively give him $50,000 back off his taxes -- 39.6% federal plus about 10% state, so roughly 50k.

Then, the State of Michigan will give the production company 42% back on his investment, which amounts to $42,000.

Which means before you've even started, his $100k investment has only, really, truly cost him $8,000. Say what!?! Yes, your rich guy just bought a hundred thousand dollar movie for a cash expenditure of 8 grand. And we all know that movies are a very, very risky investment and you are advised to always tell your investor that he may lose some or (more likely) ALL of his investment. But dang, when you're pretty much guaranteed to return 92% of his investment NO MATTER WHAT, whether you get distribution or not, that seems like a pretty easy risk to get going, right?


(well, fine print... I don't know exactly how the michigan credit factors into things, it's possible that it'd be treated as a taxable event, in which case he'd have to count $21,000 income, so that hundred grand has really cost him $29,000).

But even in that case, you're effectively asking someone for $30,000 and getting $100,000 to make your film with. How can you beat that?

Obviously, check with your tax adviser first about all these assumptions.
 
i am DP'ing a feature in northern MI next month (shooting there because of the crazy tax credits barry mentioned above). i am doing 6 day weeks so i will be unavailable during the production but once it wraps on 10/3 i could hang out for a few extra days to shoot something....

don't know if this works with your timeframe but if so, hit me up. i will have a cam, a few lights, a jib, etc. with me.
 
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