Treatment

This documentary will explore the issue of the North Carolina Film Refundable Tax Credit within House Bills 1973, 713, and Senate Bill 847 that will expire January 1, 2015. The film will explore both sides of the story from lawmakers to filmmakers and even small business owners who have thrived and grown because of the film industry. The main focus of this documentary will be to educate viewers about the Tax Credit and the benefits it has brought to the state, ultimately the goal of this documentary is to persuade viewers to take personal action to urge lawmakers and Governor Pat McCrory to extend the Tax Credit. Currently, North Carolina provides filmmakers with a 25% tax break on production costs incurred in the state. This incentive cuts off at 20 million dollars and has a minimum production expense of 250,000 dollars that must be spent in North Carolina to receive the credit. So far, film production averages 150 million dollars of income each year to the state of North Carolina; not to mention thousands of high paying jobs each year for crewmembers and tens of thousands of jobs opportunities for positions such as extras. If no action is taken soon, our state could be saying goodbye to the flood of films, jobs, and money pumped into the North Carolina economy by the film incentive. This documentary hopes to give the necessary push to the public and legislators to pass a long-term extension to the Tax Credit so that North Carolinians can enjoy the benefits of a clean industry that brings millions of dollars into the state and thousands of well paying jobs for local residents. This topic has been briefly mentioned in the news but too often it’s glossed over the real benefits to the state are rarely or never mentioned. Through investigating the issue, this documentary will help prove the true benefits that film can offer the state.

This documentary will begin with a simple introduction to the subject, bringing up basic facts and information about the Film Tax Credit. The film will then explore both sides of the debate, starting with local filmmakers, local production companies, and legislators to get a fully balanced argument. The goal is to show what the Tax Credit has brought to the state and what exactly would be lost if it’s not extended. While this documentary is meant to be persuasive both sides of the argument will fairly and accurately portrayed in an effort to bring real credibility to this documentary and the subject of the Tax Credit. Interviews, animated texts and graphs/charts, and B-roll footage of films being shot in North Carolina will be used to argue for the Tax Credit. After this, attempts will be made to portray the side of lawmakers who are against the tax credit, this strategy will be similar using interviews, additional statistics and B-roll from legislative meetings. This documentary hopes to provide the necessary information and present it in a “call to action” manner by showing viewers they have the ability to contact their legislators to request changes regarding the matter.

This documentary will run approximately 10-15 minutes. This film will be shot digitally with interviews intercut with B-roll footage, animated graphs, charts and text to show the effects of film production on North Carolina’s economy. This will be a fair and balanced documentary, but it will ultimately argue for extending the Tax Credit. Digitally scanned government documents will show exactly where the Film Tax Incentive exists in the House and Senate bills. A central narrator will be used to carry the viewers through the film and provide necessary dialogue to discuss the facts surrounding each segment of the film.

This film will be aimed at filmmakers and younger people (20-35), it will have a fast and entertaining pace. The music that will underlay the action and serve as sound bridges will be rock and alternative and the film will have lots of fast cuts. Style-wise the goal is to make an informative film that is persuasive but at the same time attempts to be entertaining and engaging.