Despite previous reports that Minnesota’s ‘Snowbate’ incentive programme was to be defunded, the state Governor Mark Dayton has signed a bill to supply the scheme with an extra USD4.5 million. Under the new bill, the Snowbate programme will now have an overall fund of USD6 million to distribute amongst productions that film on location in Minnesota.
Filming rates in Victoria, British Columbia have fallen significantly in 2016 when compared to the city’s popularity over the previous year. In 2016, only five film and television productions have shot on location in the capital, an incredibly low number when stacked against the total of 25 productions from 2015. There is still a chance that these numbers might increase before the end of the year but there are currently no productions slated to film throughout June and July.
The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling (The Big Short) and Russell Crowe (Noah) descended upon Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles and Northyards Boulevard in Atlanta to film on location. The production also visited California’s Covina Bowl which has retained its retro aesthetic and fits the film’s period setting perfectly.
The Government of Ohio has approved a new proposal entitled House Bill 475 which will increase the amount of money allocated to the state’s film incentive programme from USD20 million to USD40 million. Alongside this change the bill will remove caps on the amount of money that can be claimed and require that all productions spend at least 5% of their budget on small local businesses.
The fifth instalment of Michael Bay’s film series based on Hasbro’s range of Transformers toys, has begun filming on location in Cuba. Following on from Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Last Knight will be the second film in a new trilogy established within the Transformers universe. Mark Wahlberg will reprise his role as Cade Yeager, starring alongside Josh Duhamel and newcomer Isabela Moner.
The BBC’s popular period drama, The Musketeers was filmed on location in Prague for its third and final season. Adapted from Alexander Dumas’ classic novel The Three Musketeers, the show depicts a group of highly skilled musketeers in 17th century Paris who fight to protect their King and country. The show was renewed for a third season in February 2015, with news arriving two months later that it would be the last.
The British Virgin Islands may seem to many like a fantastic holiday destination, but behind the sunny skies and idyllic beaches lies a sophisticated infrastructure to assist all types of productions in filming on location. We spoke to Film Commissioner Clive McCoy to get the inside scoop on BVI’s film industry and what it has to offer.
Production Companies based in the United Kingdom and the country of Georgia will be entering into a co-production to fully utilise Georgia’s brand new film incentive programme which offers a cash rebate of up to 25%. Entitled Shindisi, the film will depict a true a story that occurred within the Russia-Georgia War of 2008 which only lasted six days but resulted in the deaths of over 800 people.