Congratulations to THE MARKSMAN screenwriters Danny Kravitz and Chris Charles for the successful launch of their novelization of the film, and for reaching no. 1 on Amazon’s new release list in Movie Tie-In Fiction!
When THE MARKSMAN filmed in Northeast Ohio in 2019, the production:
Order your copy of THE MARKSMAN on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
The Unit eXperience Project performs July 19 at Wade Oval Wednesday. | Ken Blaze
SOURCE: Crain’s Cleveland Business | Grant Segall
August 28, 2023
Lowell Perry Jr., Chief Diversity Officer, VP Corporate & Community Engagement at the Greater Cleveland Film Commission
SOURCE: CODE M | David Christel
August Issue
CODE M | BUSINESS
Woven in to the Fiber
At a time when Black advances are being cancelled, diversity, equity, and inclusion become even more important. For Lowell Perry Jr., bringing DEI to life has become his life’s passion.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE AUGUST ISSUE OF CODE M MAGAZINE
Cleveland International Film Festival | Marcie Goodman’s career with CIFF began in 1987. She held several leadership roles before being named the organization’s executive director in 2001.
SOURCE: Ideastream | Kabir Bhatia
August 3, 2023
For only the third time in its history, the Cleveland International Film Festival will soon be searching for an executive director. Marcie Goodman will step down in 2024 after 23 years at the helm. She informed the board Thursday that she’ll leave in June, calling her tenure “a labor of love.”
Photo by Bruno Massao | Pexels.com
SOURCE: The Business Journal | Staff
August 3, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Development has awarded $36 million in tax credits to support eight Ohio film productions in six communities, including several in northeastern Ohio.
The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit Program provides a refundable tax credit of 30% on production cast and crew wages and other in-state spending for eligible productions, including feature-length films, documentaries, pre-Broadway productions, miniseries, video games and music videos.
“Film impacts our communities in more ways than just providing entertainment,” said Lydia Mihalik, director of the Department of Development. “Projects awarded … will help highlight Ohio’s unique communities, promote the arts, and bring creative jobs to our state.”
Awarded projects total more than $170 million in production expenses, $129 million in total eligible production expenses and are expected to create 370 full-time jobs. The department received 30 applications for the fiscal year 2023 July round, requesting more than $77 million in tax credits.
The latest Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit recipients are:
Applications are reviewed and awarded in two rounds each year. $40 million is available annually, evenly divided between the two rounds plus any rollover amounts from the preceding period. Projects are awarded first to television series or miniseries, then to all others, based on the extent of positive economic impact in the state and the effect on developing a permanent workforce in the motion picture or theatrical production industries in the state.
The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit was created in 2009 to encourage and develop a film industry in Ohio. The application and additional program information can be found HERE.
NO ONE GETS OUT ALIVE. Cr. Brian Douglas/Netflix © 2021
SOURCE: Cleveland Magazine | Anthony Elder
July 27, 2023
Work from major studios largely came to a halt following the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
At a time when the Cleveland film scene could be celebrating — Ohio legislators recently approved a sizable increase to the motion picture tax credit — industry professionals like Production Coordinator Max Eberle find themselves in limbo.
In May, the Writers Guild of America instituted a writer’s strike affecting film and TV production for the first time since 2008 after film studio negotiations failed to reach a satisfactory resolution.
While that strike has continued for weeks, the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television — the actors — began striking, too, after the organization’s contract with the American Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents major studios like Netflix and NBC Universal, expired.
Reasons for the strikes range from a lack of viable pay to concerns over the use of artificial intelligence — fears mount that studios might avoid paying actors or extras for multiple appearances by technologically using their likeness for free after one paid shoot.
For members of the industry in Cleveland, from prop masters to coordinators like Eberle, major film projects now hang in the balance. Eberle, who’s worked on sets including the recent White Noise and Judas and the Black Messiah, recalls work slowing down following the writers’ strike. When SAG-AFTRA came into the conversation, he hoped that studios and actors might develop a good deal to prevent further delays.
“But, clearly SAG doesn’t think they got a good deal,” he says. “And there’s a breadth of responses to how people feel about what’s happened with the strike, but it has doubled down on that slowness and stoppage of work. That is rough for everybody.”
From the set of ‘The Fate of the Furious’ in Cleveland.
Exemplifying the issue, local Greater Cleveland Film Commission Production Coordinator Mike Wendt saw one production for a Hulu project known currently as Stickshift grind to a halt just weeks after headlines announced the casting call.
“We were able to make that announcement, and then the following day was when the strike fully went into place,” he remembers. “There were at least some people who were working at that production office for a couple of weeks before it was shut down.”
So, what does this all mean for Cleveland?
For the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, there is still plenty of work to do. The organization’s primary function revolves around courting major studios, convincing them to bring their stories to Ohio.
Between the applications, scouting locations and pitching the state’s $50 million tax credit incentives (soon to increase to $75 million in 2024), the GCFC can’t quite slow down.
“We have to pitch Ohio as a filming destination months, if not years, out before projects come,” GCFC President Bill Garvey explains. “And we’re never without work to do. Now is not necessarily a quiet time for us.”
With the added uncertainty of nationwide strikes, the commission has directed some of its focus toward resource and support. On Wednesday, July 19, the organization held a networking mixer, providing the opportunity for local industry members to connect and commiserate.
The GCFC also provides strike resources on its website, including links to emergency financial assistance and charity grants.
However, Garvey believes the Cleveland industry’s situation isn’t as dire as it could be. Local filmmakers are used to moving back and forth between smaller local gigs, commercial work and major films. While big studio work may be halted, regional media companies like TRG Multimedia, Transition Studios and Think Media Studios have room to work on non-AMPTP projects — work that doesn’t cross the Hollywood writer-actor picket line.
Furthermore, the GCFC president anticipates a surge in work once the strikes lift.
“I can’t predict when the strikes are going to be resolved, but I can be ready to go once they are,” Garvey says. “And just like coming out of COVID, the demand for content will be great. So it will this time around too.”
That doesn’t mean Ohio is free from the risk entirely. More films, bigger productions included, means more opportunities for local workers and less chance for brain drain — when a region’s creative talent steadily moves away in favor of busier areas like Los Angeles or New York City.
And for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, a stagehand union with a chapter in Northeast Ohio, the current situation exemplifies a need for representation across the industry.
Cleveland’s own IATSE 209 President Dan Jarrell says they will not cross picket lines, empathizing with current strikers. The union has dealt with its own battles in the past, including a fight for lunch breaks on busy sets and establishing penalties for the major studios if workers can’t take them.
“In the last round of negotiations, there was a very large increase in the penalties that these corporations would have to pay to not stop for lunch and just keep shooting through the day — and these are 10-, 12-, 14-hour days,” he says. “Once the last negotiations ended, [we started] preparing for these next negotiations, so they’ve put a lot of time and effort into it. They really take into consideration that these are the worker bees of the industry and they have families. It’s just tough for them to survive in these situations, and I think something very serious is trying to keep the ball rolling and not go on strike.”
As it stands, the current strikes may continue for weeks, if not months. Garvey and the GCFC encourage local industry members to reach out if they’re in need of assistance finding resources and work.
And, Garvey says, Cleveland will be poised and ready when major studio work inevitably resumes.
“Ohio will hit the ground running and get back into it. Once the strikes are resolved, production returns. It’s that simple. The demand is always there.”
On Friday, June 30, 2023, Ohio Legislators voted in favor of an increase to the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit.
The increase raises the current annual $40 million cap to $50 million, with $5 million designated for theatrical production and $45 million designated for motion picture production for the 2023-2024 fiscal year (which commences July 1, 2023). For the 2024-2025 fiscal year, in addition to the $50 million incentive, Ohio adds a $25 million infrastructure tax incentive that will also be available to reallocate towards production incentive at the discretion of the Ohio Department of Economic Development.
Mookie Cook as LeBron James in “Shooting Stars” Oluwaseye Olusa/Universal Pictures
SOURCE: Deadline.com | Katie Campione
July 5, 2023
The original film Shooting Stars has now become Peacock’s most-watched original film in its first four weeks of availability.
Since its June 2 premiere, Shooting Stars has remained the #1 original film every weekend on Peacock. Specific viewership data for the film isn’t available.
Peacock currently streams nine original films, including Praise This, They/Them, Meet Cute and Sick.
Directed by Chris Robinson and based on the book by LeBron James and Buzz Bissinger, Shooting Stars is the origin story of a basketball superhero, revealing how James and his childhood friends become the No. 1 high school team in the country, launching James’ breathtaking career as a four-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
The cast of Shooting Stars includes Marquis “Mookie” Cook, Wood Harris, Caleb McLaughlin, Khalil Everage, Avery S. Willis, Jr., Sterling “Scoot” Henderson, Dermot Mulroney, Natalie Paul, Diane Howard, Algee Smith and Katlyn Nichol.
Academy Award-nominees Rachel Winter and Terence Winter produced the film along with Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company. Spencer Beighley and Jamal Henderson also produce.
A production crew films a scene for “Shooting Stars” in Shaker Heights, May 2022. Carrie Wise / Ideastream Public Media
SOURCE: Ideastream Public Media | Douglas J. Guth
June 12, 2023
Cleveland filmmaker Nick Muhlbach wants his stories to be relatable – the same slice-of-life humanity that Muhlbach’s cinematic hero Kevin Smith accomplished with his 1994 Gen X slacker comedy, “Clerks.”
Muhlbach’s contribution to this genre is “Calendar,” a Cleveland-shot and produced drama about a young woman’s struggles with family and relationships. Muhlbach hopes his movie can be a touchstone for audience members encountering similar issues.
Universal Pictures
SOURCE: MovieWeb | Philana Marie Boles
June 11, 2023
Set in the 1990s, Shooting Stars is a real-life basketball story about NBA basketball player and movie producer LeBron James and his friends growing up in Akron, Ohio. With touching, uplifting, and often humorous, themes about friendship, loyalty, perseverance, and sacrifice, it stars Marquis “Mookie” Cook (in his screen acting debut) as James, Caleb McLaughlin(Stranger Things) as ‘Lil Dru, Avery “AJ” Wills Jr. (Swagger) as Willie McGee, Khalil Everage(Cobra Kai) as Sian Cotton, and Sterling “Scoot” Henderson as Romeo Travis (also in his screen acting debut).