Friends of Film in Arizona,

Even though SB1242 was not heard in the Senate Finance Committee yesterday, we have a strategy in place to keep the bill alive. In approximately two weeks, the bill will move to the House where we will run a “striker” bill. Once the striker bill moves through the House, it will return to the Senate for a floor vote.

It’s relatively early in the legislative session — which ran through the beginning of May last year – so don’t be discouraged. We believe we have the votes in both the House and the Senate to pass the bill.

Thanks to those of you who contacted Senator Yarbrough. We ask you to withhold your calls, e-mails and letters to legislators for now, but do keep talking about the Multimedia Production Tax Incentive Program which has the potential to bring hundreds of high paying jobs and millions of dollars in economic impact to Arizona.

In the meantime, take a look at this five minute video about the enormous economic impact that one Film in Nogales, Arizona had last Fall when Warner Brothers’ filmed scenes for HANGOVER 3.

Here are 10 Reasons Arizona Needs a New Film Incentive.

You can track the bill here.

To find out what legislative district you are in, you can enter your address here.

Friends of Film in Arizona,

SB1242 passed the Senate Commerce Committee this morning with 5 Ayes and 2 absent.

Off to a strong start, we want to keep up the momentum.

If you haven’t already, ask Sen. Yarbrough to please schedule SB1242 to be heard in his Senate Finance Committee next week.  Remember to keep your message positive.

Tune into the John C. Scott show today on KVOI The Voice (1030 on your AM dial) from 4pm – 5pm to hear both Councilmember Steve Kozachik and me (Shelli Hall) talking about the bill’s prospects.

Thank you for your support.

Here are 10 Reasons Arizona Needs a New Film Incentive.

You can track the bill here.

To find out what legislative district you are in, you can enter your address here.

Friends of Film in Arizona,

Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 13^th, SB1242 will be heard in the Senate Commerce Committee where we believe it has the votes to pass.

Our next objective is to have the bill heard in the Senate Finance Committee. The Finance Committee’s Chairman is Senator Steve Yarbrough, R, District 17 which is portions of Chandler, Gilbert and all of Sun Lakes. We ask that you contact him — particularly if you live in his district.

Ask Sen. Yarbrough to please schedule SB1242 to be heard in his Senate Finance Committee. Let him know what passage of the bill means to you personally and/or professionally. Keep your message positive.

Also, if you are a student or an educator, it would be enormously helpful if he could hear from you.  Note that Senator Yarbrough’s bio says:

“From 1971-1975 he served as a director in the ASU Office of Student Affairs. Since 1998 he has been the Executive Director of the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization…Sen. Yarbrough taught business law at Mesa Community College from 1975-1977. He was a co-founder and served on the school board for Valley Christian High School from 1981-2005.”

Thank you for your efforts on behalf of the bill.

Here are 10 Reasons Arizona Needs a New Film Incentive.

You can track the bill here.

To find out what legislative district you are in, you can enter your address here.

(From Shelli Hall — The Tucson Film Office)

Friends of Film in Arizona,

SB1242, the Multimedia Production Tax Incentives bill, will be heard in the Senate Commerce committee next Wednesday morning, February 13th. This is good news.

We believe we have the necessary votes for it to pass, but if you’d like to contact the committee members and thank them for their support, we encourage you to do so. I also indicated which of the committee members are already SB1242 sponsors and co-sponsors.  Senator Al Melvin, Chair of the Commerce committee, is leading the charge.

SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE

Ed Ableser

Steve Gallardo

John McComish  Majority Leader (SB1242 Co-Sponsor)

Al Melvin – Chair (SB1242 Sponsor)

Robert Meza

Michele Reagan – Vice Chair

Bob Worsley (SB1242 Co-Sponsor)
This is a strong start, but we still have a long way to go…

You can track the bill here.

Here are 10 Reasons Arizona Needs a New Film Incentive.

To find out what legislative district you are in, you can enter your address here.

SB1242: Multimedia Production Tax Incentives was assigned to the Senate Finance and Commerce committees. We have the votes in both of these committees and have asked Senator Melvin, the chairman of Commerce to place the bill on his agenda for next  Wednesday. We will be meeting with Senator Yarbrough, chairman of Finance hopefully before the end of the week and have begun having conversations with the Legislators on both of those committees.

APA Annual Meeting – Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013 at 7:00PM

APA kicks off 2013 with our Annual Membership Meeting. This year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, January 24, beginning at 7:00 p.m. at Cox Media Studios, 17602 N. Black Canyon Highway in Phoenix.

This is your chance to meet some of the 2013 Board Members and Committee Chairs, hear their plans for the coming year, give input and ask questions. Barry Aarons lead lobbyist for the industry and Mike Kucharo President of the Arizona Film and Media Coalition and APA Board Member will present details about the industry efforts to get new production incentives passed through the Arizona legislature this year.

The evening starts off at 6:30 p.m. with appetizers and beverages provided by APA, followed by the formal meeting at 7:00 p.m., a Q&A and then networking with your fellow industry professionals.

Cost: Free for Members; $10 for guests

PLEASE RSVP to info@azproduction.com or 480-345-6464 by JAN. 21.