{"id":4481,"date":"2015-03-30T17:57:26","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T21:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsunderthedome.org\/malc\/?p=4481"},"modified":"2015-03-30T17:57:26","modified_gmt":"2015-03-30T21:57:26","slug":"important-ma-film-tax-incentive-advocacy-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/artistsunderthedome.org\/malc\/news\/important-ma-film-tax-incentive-advocacy-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Important MA Film Tax Incentive Advocacy Update!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Important Joint Committee on Revenue hearing regarding\u00a0H.62 tomorrow, March 31! If you can’t attend, please see “Write Your Representatives<\/strong>” (below).<\/p>\n

Important update from the Massachusetts Production Coalition:<\/p>\n

Committee Hearing of House Bill H.62; Tuesday, March 31st<\/h2>\n

\"mpcDear MPC Members & Supporters,<\/p>\n

As many of you are aware, the Joint Committee on Revenue hearing that includes the Governor’s bill H.62 to eliminate the film and television tax incentive is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31st beginning at 10:30 AM<\/strong>. Information about the hearing and location at the State House can be found online: https:\/\/malegislature.gov\/Committees\/Joint\/J26<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As we have reported, we are coordinating with our fellow industry stakeholders to present an accurate and comprehensive portrayal of our industry and economic benefits the film and television tax incentive program contributes to the Commonwealth.<\/p>\n

Our strategy for the panels, speakers, and themes for the hearing is comprehensive. There will be a range of testimony from industry workers, craftspeople, business leaders, university representatives, and local vendors – as well as representatives from districts across the state that experience the direct benefits of film and television production.<\/p>\n

Our goal is to be concise in our testimony and presentations. There are four other bills scheduled to be heard in this session, and it is important that we are respectful of the committee and representatives time. Excessive and redundant testimony could actually be counterproductive.<\/p>\n

Having industry members attend the hearing to respectfully support the testimony and process is very important. We encourage you, our members and supporters, to attend if possible. Please keep in mind there will also be testimony about the FTC from opposition that is negative, and that some members of our industry might even find insulting. People should not respond in any way to this. Our testimony will speak for itself.<\/p>\n

It is important to understand that this hearing is only one step in a significant process with other challenges to face. The debate that will occur in both the House and Senate budget process will absolutely require further advocacy and participation at the State House. We are also planning a Lobby Day in May and that will be an extremely important forum when all of our industry members and supporters must be mobilized to attend and participate.<\/p>\n

Below are actions you can take to continue advocating and supporting our efforts to keep the film and television production tax incentive in place, and protect your businesses and careers.<\/p>\n

WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVES<\/h3>\n

To date, along with our outreach partners we have achieved over 3,000 emails generated from this campaign. If you have not already, please click (or paste) the link below to instantly email your state Senator and Representative, urging them to oppose the Governor’s proposal, House Bill 62. You can edit the template provided to add your story.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.votervoice.net\/MPC\/campaigns\/39604\/respond<\/a><\/p>\n

SAVEMAFILMJOBS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n

If you are a Massachusetts resident who’s job is supported directly or indirectly by the film and television industry or a business that provides goods and services to film and television production in MA, we recommend submitting your profile and picture(s) on savemafilmjobs.com<\/a> by emailing the information to savemafilmjobs@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

VIDEO OF THE DAY<\/h3>\n

Members of the MPC have created a terrific series of short videos we are posting with stories of small local businesses benefitting from motion picture and television production. Please watch for these posted each day on our Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a> pages and share. You can also view the complete series on our Vimeo<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

We have also made concise information about real benefits of the tax incentive to the state available on our website: http:\/\/massprodcoalition.org\/ma-film-incentive-works<\/a>.<\/p>\n