HB1939 Passes Senate

The entire senate voted FOR HB1939, the film incentives bill. Governor Mike Beebe said last year at our 2nd annual festival gala that he would support film incentive legislation. He has since then said he would sign this bill. This is a wonderful day for the Arkansas film community at large. It was a united bipartisan front that was supported by both business and labor, democrat and republicans. This is a great day.

HB1939 Passes Senate Committee

HB1939 passed the committee today with a voice vote. It was unanimous and now it goes before the Senate. Contact your state senators to voice your support for this bill. State Senator Shane Broadway of Bryant asked that not too many speak in support of the bill in fear that too many people speaking would turn off the Senators on the committee. There for Judge and Amy Reinhold were the only people allowed to speak in support of it. It seems his star power my have helped push this bill through. Jokes were made about his infamous scene in Fast Times. I can't stress enough that now is the time to contact your state senators. Governor Mike Beebe stated publicly at our festival gala last year that he is in support of this type of legislation and he has said that he will sign it. Let him know how great he is for doing that as well. His office phone number is 501-682-2345.

HB1939 Moved to Tuesday March 24th

The State Senate Agriculture, Forestry and Econ Development Committee postponed their decision on HB1939 to Tuesday March 24th at 10 am in room 309. Go if you can.

HB1939 to go before Senate Committee tomorrow at Ten(3-19-09)

House Bill 1939 is set to go before the Senate's committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development tomorrow morning at ten AM in room 309. It's not over yet. Here are the committee members.

Senator Shane Broadway

Senator Gene Jeffress

Senator Jimmy Jeffress

Senator Jim Luker

Senator Mary Anne Salmon

Senator Jerry Taylor

Senator Ruth Whitaker

Senator David Wyatt

Would You Like To Have A Booth At the 3rd Annual LRFF?

The subject line pretty much says all that I want to say but let me reiterate it. If you'd like for your organization to have a booth in the second largest venue at the Little Rock Film Festival please contact me at justin@littlerockfilmfestival.org. Last year the festival had over 5000 people in attendance and with many of them stopping by the booths. Please send me your info and I'll let you know if you fit with our festival and all the particulars. THANKS!

HB1939 Passes House...Overwhelmingly

The film incentive bill passed the house today with 94 yes votes. Mirroring what he said at last year's festival gala, the governor has also sent word that he wants to sign this bill through his spokesperson, "We're on board," DeCample said. "We obviously want a strong film industry in Arkansas, and this is a mechanism that we want to give a shot."

The only three people to vote against the bill were Debra Hobbs (R) of Rogers, Dan Greenberg (R) of Bryant, and Duncan Baird (R) of Lowell. Donna Hutchinson (R) of Bella Vista, Andrea Lee (R) of Russelville, and Speaker of the House Robbie Wills (D) of Conway were absent from voting on this issue.

Now the bill has to pass the state senate.

HB1939 Passes Committee

The Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development Committee for the State House voted overwhelmingly in support of the film incentives bill. The bill is gaining much needed support in the house, but if you think that this battle is over, think again. Now is the time to inundate your representatives and state senators with emails, letters and phone calls telling them how important this issue is to you.

Film Commissioner Chris Crane presented most of the information on the bill to the committee and there were several people who spoke for it, none against it. A representative of the MPAA, myself, and several other local filmmakers all spoke in support of the bill. There was also about thirty people in the room with their "Support Film! HB1939" stickers who all cheered when it passed. It seemed to have made quite the impression on the committee.

Good work everyone and congratulations on this first step, now keep at it. (The picture above was originally posted on www.underthedome.com)

Bill to be in Committee Tomorrow (3-11-09)

This is from an email....


Our legislation to create incentives for films to shoot in AR is
officially "with legs".

The bill was filed last week, it will be introduced to committee
tomorrow, Wed 11th at 10a. Room 138

WE NEED AS MANY SUPPORTERS OF THE INDUSTRY TO ATTEND THE 10AM
COMMITTEE MEETING TOMORROW
AS POSSIBLE. PLEASE DRESS "BIZ", BE IN ROOM 138 BY 9:50. WE WILL
HAVE "SUPPORTER BUTTONS" TO WEAR.
PLEASE FOLLOW THROUGH, BRING FRIENDS, SPREAD THE WORD. WE ARE ALMOST
THERE-WE WILL FINALLY
BE ABLE TO PROMOTE AR FOR FILMING LOCATIONS!!!!!!!


COMMITTEE IS HOUSE AGRI/FORESTRY/ECON DEVELOPMENT
Members are as follows:

Representative Roy Ragland
Vice Chair
Representative Jerry Brown
Representative Curren Everett
Representative Gregg Reep
Representative Monty Davenport
Representative Mike Burris
Representative Bill Sample
Representative Robbie Wills
Representative Nathan George
Representative John Lowery
Representative Robert Moore
Representative Joan Cash
Representative Lance Reynolds
Representative Jim House
Representative Bryan King
Representative Mike Patterson
Representative Terry Rice
Representative Robert Dale
Representative Monty Betts
Representative Jim Nickels

Some of the important stuff from the bill

If you want this to happen contact your reps and your senators.



15-4-2005. Production rebate.
(a)(1) A production company, upon approval of the application by the
Arkansas Economic Development Commission, shall be eligible for a rebate of
fifteen percent (15%), with no cap per production, on all qualified
production costs in connection with the production of a state-certified film
project.
(2) An additional rebate of ten percent (10%) will be granted
for the payroll of below-the-line employees who are full-time residents of
Arkansas.
(b) To qualify for this rebate, a production company shall spend at
least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) within a six-month period in
connection with the production of one (1) project.


15-4-2006. Post-production rebate.
(a)(1) A qualifying production company, upon approval of the
application by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, shall be
eligible for a rebate of fifteen percent (15%), with no cap per production,
on all qualified production costs in connection with the post-production of a
state-certified film project.
(2) An additional rebate of ten percent (10%) will be granted
for the payroll of below-the-line employees who are full-time residents of
Arkansas.
(b) To qualify for this rebate, a production company must; spend at
least fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) within a six (6) month period in
connection with the production of one (1) project.

Film Incentives Bill Filed this week

People can rejoice and start writing their representatives and state senators. The bill has been filed that many of you have asked for. There's a lot to it as it's actually an amendment to the original tax incentives bill which had a sunset clause to end in 1997, but it seems to be interesting. The only thing that I find concerning is that there's a section on how nothing considered obscene qualifies and I wonder what is considered obscene. Would a film like The Godfather with one sex scene be considered obscene by the state legislature? These are questions we as voters should ask. Take your time to read the bill and comment what you think about it if you have the time.

It's the little things....

At the Little Rock Film Festival office we are extremely deprived of a few things that one can't really call necessities. If anyone has any of these items that they don't need drop us a line. I'm kind of tired of drinking two year old, room temperature diet cokes and ten month old candy. We could use the microwave to warm up our left over sandwiches. Couches are just comfortable.


We'd work 24/7 if we had a coffee maker to bring you the very best film festival you have ever seen in this state (not that we aren't already, it would just make it easier on us).

Roy Scheider Tribute Event in Hollywood to Benefit UAMS

The late actor Roy Scheider of Jaws and Seaquest fame passed away last year here in Little Rock due to multiple myeloma at UAMS. As it turns out UAMS is the only hospital in the world that does extensive research on this, thus far, incurable disease. Scheider had been coming to the hospital here in Little Rock for nearly two years, while he wasn't filming his final movie Iron Cross, undergoing the worlds best treatment in an attempt to make his last few years more comfortable. Multiple myeloma occurs in plasma cells in bone marrow according to wikipedia.

Now for some good news. Scheider's wife and family are throwing a star studded benefit April 4 at the Beverly Hills Hotel with the proceeds going to UAMS. Hopefully this will help us find a cure for this disease. For more on the UAMS program click here. For more on the benefit click here. For more on the many role Scheider played click here.