Watch "My Life Disoriented"

A new TV program directed by Hawaii-raised director Eric Byler, written by Claire Yorita Lee, and starring Di Quon, Karin Anna Cheung, and Tamlyn Tomita, is premiering on PBS on Tuesday, 12/26 at 10pm. "My Life Disoriented" is like "Degrassi Junior High"--the one from when I was in junior high, not the new one--with Asian American leads. If you didn't catch it at the Hawaii International Film Festival this year, here's your chance. And even if you did see it already, watch it again to support Asian Americans on TV. Here's a blog post Eric wrote yesterday on MySpace about the show:

Year in and year out, the network television Pilot-to-Series Bus leaves without us. The bus leaves without Asian Pacific Americans..because there is a perception that there is no audience for stories about our community. Of course it left without us when we decided to make My Life Disoriented. But by applying for and winning a grant from ITVS ($11,500 was all it took to get us started) we basically built our own bus. We competed for an won finishing funds from ITVS, and then competed for and won a slot on the prestigious series Independent Lens. So, we made it to the same destination as the Pilot-to-Series Bus, perhaps even a better destination, with..nation-wide roadcasts on PBS starting this Tuesday. This gives us an opportunity to prove that there is indeed an audience for a show like this.

Seriously, it's almost 2007. Can it really be true that no one wants to see Asian Pacific Americans on TV unless they kick someone and/or speak with an accent? Check out the comment posted under the Tamlyn Clip on You Tube. Somebody wrote, "This makes me cringe... Asians don't talk like that. First of all, it's usually not in English."

Anyway, I spent the day writing emails to journalists..because, if enough people find out about the show, and enough people watch it on Tuesday -- we might post the kind of Nielson ratings that could earn us a seat on that bus for 2007, and earn the next band of insurgent TV pilot trouble-makers a spot on the bus with us.

Those emails you've been sending, by the way, they're working. Keep writing! We've gotten a lot of attention from ITVS and PBS in the last few days. Big conference call last night with the programming boss and the publicist. You've gotten them excited. They're totally with us. And also, they love my story about the bus....

So watch it! It screens with the "Independent Lens: Short Stack 2006" program at the following times in Hawaii:
Tues, 12/26, 10pm
Wed, 12/27, 1am
Sun, 12/31, 2am

>> myspace.com/mylifedisoriented
>> mylifedisoriented.com
>> Independent Lens: My Life Disoriented

RELATED POSTS:
>> FilmHawaii Seminar: Eric Byler on Mon, 10/30
>> HIFF Report: Monster, Matty, Mujeres
>> HIFF Report: Asian American Invasion
>> Breaking: Asian Pacific Americans Underrepresented on TV!
>> Hollywood Studio System is "Inherently Racist"
>> Minority Writers Get Minor Share of Work
>> Actors Get Reality Check

Public Humiliation for a $1M Development Deal, Anyone?

It's "American Idol" meets "Project Runway"...for filmmakers!

Submit your film to audition for the new Mark Burnett / Steven Spielberg / DreamWorks series "On The Lot" on Fox. Talent scouts are currently casting 16 filmmakers for the pilot season.

Here's the premise: Each week, the filmmakers will make a short film with the resources provided to them (e.g., actors, grips, PAs, etc.). Their fates will be decided by a weekly audience vote. At the end of the season, the last director standing will get a $1 million dollar development deal at DreamWorks.

The deadline to submit your film is February 16, 2007. Go to thelot.com for more info.

RELATED POST:
>> Win $100K for a 3-5 Minute Documentary on "Tolerance"
>> Showdown in Chinatown Winners

Whatever Happened to Haiku Jones?

You'll have to come see "Epic" to figure out what this means

Find out what happened to beloved stoic poet Haiku Jones and his nemesis, "Epic Poem" Eric, in "Epic," the sequel to the uproariously funny and widely beloved and praised film "The Tale of Haiku Jones" (2004) by the Hawaii Film Office's own young genius auteur Kevin Inouye. ("Haiku Jones" happens to be my favorite made-in-Hawaii film of all time.)

The WORLD PREMIERE OF "EPIC" will be screening for FREE on Saturday, December 30th, 8pm at UH Manoa. Discover what happened to all of your favorite characters and meet a few new hilarious ones. And if you didn't get a chance to see the original "Haiku Jones," now's your chance because it will be screening before "Epic"! Here are the details:

WHAT: "Epic" World Premiere
WHERE: Crawford Hall Rm. 115, University of Hawaii at Manoa Campus [full map]
(Enter campus via Maile Way and park along Campus Rd or Varney Circle for $3, or park on Metcalf Street)
WHEN: Sat, 12/30, 8pm
WHO: The entire cast and crew will be present for a Q&A after the screening!
HOW MUCH: FREE

Please join Pretentious Productions for the world premiere of "Epic," the fifty minute short film follow-up to "The Tale of Haiku Jones."

Directed by Kevin Inouye, produced by Christopher Yogi, and starring "Epic Poem" Eric Callahan, Scott Henderson, "Slam Poet" Stevie Yoo, Anne Misawa, and Amanda Young, "Epic" takes place two years after the events of "The Tale of Haiku Jones." Finding himself struggling with relevancy in the fickle and increasingly commercialized world of contemporary poetry, "Epic Poem" Eric (who is now flanked by the ubiquitous Scott Henderson) begins a blood feud with fast rising star "Slam Poet" Stevie. The war quickly intensifies as "Epic" finds himself fighting not only for his own survival, but ultimately, in a metaphorical, and perhaps even metaphysical manner, for the quality of the human condition itself.

"Epic" will be preceded by "The Tale of Haiku Jones," the Academy for Creative Media produced short about a stoic Haiku poet that stole hearts at the 2005 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, the 2005 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, and the 2004 Hawaii International Film Festival, and "Wake," a short about a lonely college student, a girl, a poem, and a tree, that largely confused audiences at the 2006 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival and the 2005 Hawaii International Film Festival.

>> Haiku Redux [Hnl Advertiser, 12/15/06]
>> 'Haiku Jones' will be shown at California festival [Hnl Advertiser, 2/17/05]
>> Festival showcases student filmmakers [Hnl Advertiser, 10/24/04]
>> UH doing just fine at film school [Hnl Advertiser, 6/25/04]

RELATED POSTS:
>> Hawaii Films at HIFF 2006
>> Meet the Hawaii Film Office!
>> LVHIFF 2005: A Retrospective
>> Hawaii Film Panorama at LVHIFF
>> Asian American Film Festivals

Mele Kalikimaka/Chanukah/Kwanzaa/New Year

RELATED POST:
>> Happy Holidays 2005 from the Hawaii Film Office

"Lost" Gets Two Golden Globe Noms

...one for Best TV Drama Series and one for Evangeline Lilly for Best Actress in a TV Drama Series. "Lost" will be defending its Best TV Drama title from last year's Golden Globes.

>> Hollywood Foreign Press Association Announced the Nominations for the 64th Golden Globe Awards (Goldenglobes.org, 12/14/06)

RELATED POSTS:
>> "Lost" Wins Best Drama Golden Globe
>> "Lost" Snubbed by Emmy Voters

More on 15-20% Film Tax Credit Confidentiality

Here's the Advertiser's Sean Hao's article on the recent Office of Info Practices (OIP) and Attorney General (AG) opinions on the confidentiality of the 15-20% film tax credit application forms submitted to the Hawaii Film Office.

Would like to re-emphasize the fact that our AG had originally told us that information provided on the forms cannot be publicly disclosed per Hawaii Revised Statutes §235-116, which provides that tax return information shall be confidential. However, the AG reconsidered its original opinion and determined that only the budget/expenditure information may be kept confidential, but that the rest of the information may be subject to public disclosure inspection under Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act, unless a specific showing is made that disclosure of the information would cause competitive harm to the production whose information is requested. OIP concurred with this new opinion.

Most of the productions applied under the assumption that all their info would be kept confidential. Therefore, we are obligated to notify them individually of the new disclosure policy prior to releasing their identities. We have given them a deadline of December 21st to respond with their confidentiality requests, after which time we will review them and put together a list of them to give to Hao.

That is why "Hawai'i Film Commissioner Donne Dawson denied an Advertiser request for the information in September." That statement sounds harsher than it should--see, we had to honor the confidentiality of the applicants who applied under the old blanket confidentiality policy while awaiting formal opinions from the AG and OIP. Then, once the AG and OIP said most of the info should be disclosed, we had to give the applicants the opportunity to argue what shouldn't be disclosed before just releasing all their info willy-nilly. (Imagine if your tax returns were suddenly released to the press without any notification!)

The Hawaii Film Office is all for open government and the public's right to know (we who work here are taxpayers too!), but we also have to consider the needs of the film industry if we want to, as a state, develop and grow it here. We're just trying to do what's right for everyone, as best as we can.

Just so you know, New York, New Mexico, Illinois, and North Carolina do not disclose any individual production info on their film tax credit applications (NC doesn't because forms are submitted directly to their tax dept., which definitively makes them "tax return info"). Georgia, which Hao mentioned in his 10/4 article on the same topic, actually has a very similar policy to our new policy. Louisiana is the only state that discloses everything, including budget/expenditure info.

Oh, the other thing I wanted to point out: Hao postulates, "The film office said the 12 productions have projected budgets of $79.5 million in qualifying costs....If all that money were spent on O'ahu, the amount of tax credits created would be $12 million." Actually, he did not take into account the fact that credits are capped at $8 million per project, so if a production is spending more than $53.3 million on Oahu, their credit percentage would actually be lower than 15%. What's more, while some like to stress the cost of tax credits to the state, others like to look at the dollars that the tax credits bring in (nearly $80 million in this case), that might not have otherwise have been brought in to Hawaii were it not for the credits. Plus, how about the projected 774 jobs for Hawaii residents from just these 12 productions?

Last thing: Hao ends his article with a discussion of Act 221, the other more controversial investment tax credit that applies to high-tech as well as film/TV companies. I wanted to highlight the shift in his discussion from the new 15-20% refundable film tax credit to Act 221, because the 2 credits are very, very different, and people tend to clump them together.

>> State likely to lift veil on film tax credits [Hnl Advertiser, 12/8/06]

RELATED POSTS:
>> Confidentiality Policy for 15-20% Film Tax Credit Forms
>> Sean Hao on Confidentiality of Film Tax Credit Info
>> Tax Review Commission Iffy on Act 221
>> Tax Credit Mania?
>> Two Articles About Act 88 Today
>> Press Massacres Hawaii's Film Tax Credits Again
>> Finally! Forms for 15-20% Film Tax Credit!

Showdown in Chinatown's December Challenge

Topic: A Surprise
Props: Newspaper, Flashlight
Line: "that might take a while" (spoken or written)

DEADLINE: Sat, 12/9, 5pm at NextDoor (43 N. Hotel St.), $20 submission fee
SCREENING: Sat, 12/9, 9pm at NextDoor, $10 admission

>> Showdown in Chinatown

RELATED POSTS:
>> Showdown in Chinatown Winners
>> Showdown in Chinatown Championship
>> Honolulu: Hipster Haven

Confidentiality Policy for 15-20% Film Tax Credit Forms

The Hawaii State Attorney General's Office and the Office of Information Practices recently issued formal written opinions on the confidentiality of the forms related to claiming the 15-20% Motion Picture, Digital Media, and Film Production Income Tax Credit. These forms include the Production Registration Form and the Hawaii Production Report which are submitted to the Hawaii Film Office for processing.

Please be aware that information submitted on these forms is subject to public disclosure, with the exception of budget and expenditure information and individual personal contact information. If there is any other information you would like to keep confidential, you must make a special written request for confidentiality specifically identifying the information to be withheld from public disclosure and explaining why you consider it to be confidential commercial and financial information and how its disclosure would likely cause you substantial competitive harm. You must submit this request along with your Production Registration Form and Hawaii Production Report.

Here is the new disclaimer on the Production Registration Form (the disclaimer on the Hawaii Production Report is similar to this):

CONFIDENTIALITY: This application and other records related to this application may be subject to public disclosure under Hawaii's Uniform Information Practices Act ("UIPA"), Chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which governs public access to the records of government agencies in Hawaii. The UIPA provides certain exceptions to public disclosure. One exception allows government agencies to protect information that constitutes confidential commercial and financial information that, if disclosed, would likely cause you substantial competitive harm. See Haw. Rev. Stat. § 92F-13(3) (1993). Pursuant to this exception, the Hawaii Film Office will not publicly disclose budget and expenditure information submitted (under Section 8 below) for specific productions, but may disclose this information in anonymous or aggregate form. To request that other information submitted be protected under this exception, you must submit a letter with this application specifically identifying the information to be withheld from public disclosure and explaining how its disclosure would likely cause you substantial competitive harm. The Hawaii Film Office reserves the right to determine whether information submitted by you will be withheld from disclosure. You will be notified of any requests made for the disclosure of your information and whether the information will be disclosed in accordance with the UIPA.

RELATED POSTS:
>> Finally! Forms for 15-20% Film Tax Credit!
>> Two Articles About Act 88 Today

Mike Tsai's Latest Film/TV Notes

Here's the latest version of the Advertiser's Mike Tsai's sporadic film/TV round-up, including news about Tom Coffman's "The First Battle," a WWII documentary, airing TONIGHT at 8pm on PBS Hawaii and UH communication professor Marc Moody's overlooked indie film "Almost Normal," which scored theatrical and DVD distribution and will soon air on MTV's Logo channel.

>> 'Lost' propels ABC to No. 1 during sweeps [Hnl Advertiser, 12/6/06]

RELATED POSTS:
>> Two Recent Hawaii Premieres
>> Premiere of PBS Doc "The First Battle"

Tax Review Commission Iffy on Act 221

Last Friday, the Tax Review Commission met to finalize its "Draft Report of the 2005 - 2007 Tax Review Commission." In this report, the Commission addressed the sticky issue of the cost of Act 221, Hawaii's controversial high-tech investment tax credit. Here's what it concluded (starting on page 19 of the .pdf version of the report):

This Commission shares the view of the 2001-2003 Tax Review Commission,
"A tax incentive program is a potential 'black hole,' because it is a future benefit of unknown proportions, which is determined bythe favored taxpayer's interpretation of what the tax credit should be, and is claimed on a tax return which is confidential."

We believe Act 221/215 raises similar concerns. We recommend that the Legislature avoid using tax credits as an economic development tool. As for the high technology business investment tax credit, the cost of the credit has proven hard to determine in a timely manner. In order to get more control over the program and to curb potential abuses, the Legislature should change it from a tax credit to a program of grants administered by a State Agency. If the credit is kept, this Commission recommends the following changes be adopted, at a minimum:
• Increase transparency and timely disclosure so that the credit can be evaluated effectively. Towards this end, we believe the data reporting should be mandatory and expanded to include sales; employment by compensation ranges and status, including full-time, part-time, and seasonal; and number of trademarks, patents, and copyrights obtained during the year.
• The data should be collected by NAICS codes and distributed to the public periodically, but not less frequently than annually.
• To gather the data, a tax confidentiality waiver should be required so that pertinent data can be released to the public.
• The Commission was unable to determine to its satisfaction whether the high technology business investment tax credit has achieved its goals, but we are concerned that the credit imposes a substantial drain on the resources of the State. Consequently, we believe an independent evaluation should be performed prior to any extension of the credit. These considerations may well apply to other tax credits. If the requirement for qualified high technology companies to report more data is implemented, the Department of Taxation should review the question of whether there is a continued need for certification.

Interestingly (and a bit alarmingly), the Commission points to Sean Hao's 10/7/06 Hnl Advertiser article "Isles' Tech Jobs Drop Despite Tax Credit" when footnoting a point credited to an outside study about Act 221 contracted by the Commission called "Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Hawaii's Qualified High Technology Business Investment Tax Credit." The point was that Act 221 could potentially cost $600 million over its lifetime. What's puzzling is, why did the Commission point to the Hao article (a secondary source) instead of its own Act 221 study (a primary source) which outside consultants were paid to conduct (and presumably, which would've provided that data point for Hao's article)? A quick perusal of the study (which is included in the same .pdf document as Appendix B, starting on page 63) didn't show any $600 million figure quoted, so where the heck did it come from? Referencing back to Hao's article, it seems that one of the study's authors, Marcia Sakai, verbally stated that estimate. But I must ask: why isn't it in the written study? Perhaps I may have missed it and one of you eagle-eyed blog readers can point it out to me.

So, basically, the Commission's conclusion on Act 221 seems to be (and I'm paraphrasing): "Well, Act 221 could potentially be a black hole, so if you all decide to extend it, get some hard data and transparency first to see if the thing actually works. But as far as we can tell now, we think you should scrap all tax incentives for economic development and maybe replace them with grant programs."

>> Draft Report of the 2005 - 2007 Tax Review Commission [11/21/06]
>> Tech credit called 'substantial drain' [Hnl Advertiser, 11/3/06]

RELATED POSTS:
>> Tax Credit Mania?
>> Act 221: Stop the Madness!
>> Tech Community: Act 221 Research Stinks!
>> New Data on Effectiveness of Act 221
>> Tax Dept. Clarifies Act 221 Standards
>> Press Massacres Hawaii's Film Tax Credits Again
>> Tax Incentives Suck...Who Said That?