Last month I actually hinted a bit about THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT. I am so pleased to host the New England Premiere screening of this heralded motion picture for our greater Boston area.
Please join us on Thursday, November 15th at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square for the New England Premiere of THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT. This is an IMAGINE Magazine promotional event. I am determined to fill the theatre and hope you will help me do that. General admission is $15. And includes the Q & A afterwards with the filmmakers in attendance. There will be a VIP reception available prior to the screening that will cost $75 to meet with the filmmakers, cast and crew. It begins at 6:30 pm. The movie screens at 8 pm.
Jan and Mikhaila Waldman of Critter Casting will co-host our VIP reception along with Lisa Lobel of Boston Casting. Lisa did the local casting for the movie. Jan and Mikhaila’s beautiful German Shepard, Silas Archer Gustav, was in THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIG FOOT playing Aidan Turner’s (young Calvin Barr’s) dog. Silas will attend and be available for photographs.
The Q & A includes the director Robert Krzykowski, Executive Producer Douglas Trumbull, Music Composer Joe Kraemer and special effects guru Richard Yuricich. It will be lively I assure you. And we will have an opportunity to meet afterwards in the neighborhood. I’ll keep you updated as other cast and crew are added to our guest list.
I do hope you can be a part of this made in Massachusetts independent film celebration.
Hartley Pleshaw, one of our best writers, has interviewed the director of THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT and its star, Sam Elliott. This film will most likely change how we think about independent film. I can’t think of anything so compelling that has or hasn’t come along in many years.
And this well springs from Massachusetts and was shot in western Massachusetts in and around Turner Falls, the home of Robert Krzykowski, the film’s director. He explains, “I think it’s worth noting that this isn’t a horror film, nor is it an exploitation film. This is a character study with some genre elements, but it’s much closer to a Hal Ashby movie or a Robert Altman film than it is to a bonkers exploitation flick. Bear that in mind as we spread the word. It helps to be honest about what this thing really is—even though there’s still a ton of mystery surrounding it.”
THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT has sold out at every venue it has played in beginning in Montreal at its premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival and then in London, in Strasbourg and Sitges in Spain. It’s a character study of Calvin Barr that Sam Elliott brings home for all of us. Some say it’s his best role ever!
For us here in New England, this has been a very good year. There is so much to boast about. We didn’t have our usual fight to preserve our film tax credits in Massachusetts; Rhode Island increased their film tax credits to 30% and Connecticut reinstated their film tax credits after a substantial hiatus. What does this really mean?
Massachusetts film tax credit is as good as it ever was. 25% above and below the line, transferable, and better than New York as we do above the line – New York doesn’t include above the line. Rhode Island increased their tax credit to 30%, but it still has a cap of $15 million – still a great deal if you plan ahead.
Connecticut has reinstated their film tax credits after a long hiatus. But the numbers have changed considerably. Staggered the numbers now are this: Minimum spend has increased to $100,000 and makes the credit amount dependent on the production’s total expenses or costs. Production companies incurring production expenses or costs between $100,000 and $500,000 are eligible for a 10% credit, between $500,000 and $1 million are eligible for a 15% credit, and qualified expenditures over $1 million will continue to be eligible for a 30% credit.
So New England is well incentivized and major films and TV series are shooting in all three states. I believe 2018 will have the largest industry spend in our production history in Massachusetts. And as we look to 2019 there’s more in the pipeline, which does bring us to 2019.
This year IMAGINE Industry New Year’s Celebration & “Imaginnaire” Awards Gala will be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2019. As our celebration is always on the second Tuesday of the New Year, it will be earlier than usual this year as New Year’s Day is on a Tuesday. Please save the date and plan to attend. We have exciting new “Imaginnaires” to introduce to you. This is one of our best networking affairs.
I had the good fortune of trekking to western Massachusetts for the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative’s 5th Annual Western MA Film and Media Exchange. It featured seminars on Screenwriting and pitching your project with LA based author, screenwriting expert and script consultant Pilar Alessandra. I have seen her many times at AFM. The event was extremely well attended and everyone I spoke to thought the day was a success for them. Pilar knows writing for film and TV inside and out and she presented exceptionally good advice. Her formula for creating a project’s logline is invaluable. Even John Stimpson uses it. See page 8 to read about John’s newest project written with best-selling author Casey Sherman.
Yes, 2018 has simply zipped by, but we’ll pause when we get together for IMAGINE’s screening of THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT on November 15th. Please do help us fill the Somerville Theatre Main Auditorium. Then we’ll look forward to the IMAGINE Industry New Year’s Celebration & “Imaginnaire” Awards Gala in the New Year on January 8th.
