The following was copied from Deadline Hollywood Daily: THIS IS AN ALERT TO ALL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD MEMBERS It is imperative to your well being that you read the TV/THEATRICAL NEGOTIATING UPDATE that was recently mailed to you by Screen Actors Guild and check the box showing support for Doug Allen, Alan Rosenberg and the [...]

ACTING OUT of STATE by Craig Berlin Founding Board Member (Retired) Texas Motion Picture Alliance  http://www.txmpa.org Acting is something close to my heart. Talent does not guarantee success and even though I did a lot of acting in high school and college, I opted to go behind the camera as a career because it felt [...]

Here’s an excellent article on state film incentives from Indy.com In Texas we are HOPING to get the legislature to increase our incentive from the current dead in the water 5% to a comparatively modest 15%. We are hoping that the existing infrastructure will make 15% more competitive. So far, 15% hasn’t primed the pump [...]

A MESSAGE TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TEXAS PRODUCTION COMMUNITY Folks, the legislative season is upon us. Long before the session begins in January, much work has already been done — and there’s a great deal yet to be done — toward making Texas’ incentive program more competitive, and regaining some of the ground that [...]

We’re not allowed to consider shooting in any state without a competitive incentive program. Texas just isn’t in the mix. That statement by an unknown Hollywood film exec, may not be an exact quote but it’s darn close to what a few hundred members of the TXMPA were told last week in Austin. The TXMPA, [...]

SAG recently sent a signatory film production list for Texas and Louisiana to the membership. Texas has 13 productions on the list: 7 ultra low budget contracts, 3 low budget contracts, 1 TV series and 2 projects working under the standard theatrical agreement. Louisiana has 7 projects on the list: 3 low budget contracts, 0 [...]

As negotiations begin again with the AMPTP, SAG is using one tool at its disposal that might put some pressure on the producers organization to settle, a waiver available only to indie productions. By signing the SAG waiver the production company agrees to comply with the eventual deal hammered out with the AMPTP. This deal [...]

Abandoning the Nest is a must read article in the Austin Chronicle by Joe O’Connell. Consider the facts: Between 1998 and 2006, Hollywood studio films had combined production in Texas of more than $530 million, averaging eight or nine films a year, according to Texas Film Commission figures. The entire year of 2007 eked out [...]

Nothing like taking a few days of R&R in New Orleans and staying in a hotel with no internet access to put your blog behind schedule. A friend called to tell me I should read Chris Garcia’s article In less than 3 years, Shreveport has passed Austin as a film hotbed, and a great article [...]