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FALL EVENT RECAP It was so great to see so many of you at our fall event! Sorry for those long check-in lines but we were overjoyed with your response. We have an uphill climb and lots of work to do, but if we stick together anything is possible. For those that still need to get your MPAU membership please go to www.MPAU.org and make it official - you are Utah’s film industry! A huge thank you to Vega Media Studios for hosting our event; if you haven’t worked with them they are legit professionals and super kind people. We wouldn’t be able to do this without our Partners - Utah Film Studios, Moonrock, and the Utah Film Commission - and their continued support. Also, a special thank you to study donors Paramount Pictures, Park City Chamber, Greater Zion, 3486 Inc. - David Wulf, Utah Valley, Visit Ogden, and Jeffrey Johnson CPA. We had the privilege of hearing from our lobbyist Charlie Evans, and Virginia Pearce, the Utah Film Commissioner, about the importance of communicating with our legislators in the upcoming session. We will be in touch with further instructions on how to contact your legislator and specific messaging so we can stay consistent. We introduced a very important impact study in partnership with the Utah Film Commission that will finally give us the numbers to back up what we already know, that film is good business for Utah. Most importantly we announced that you’re going to get a chance to tell your story of how film impacts you and your family. FILM STUDY/LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION PRESENTATION Tomorrow on October 20th, we will be presenting preliminary numbers for the Oslberg film impact study to an interim board of legislators. All sessions are available for public access here. We will update membership throughout this process and on the numbers once the study is completed. We’d again like to thank our donors and partners for making this study possible. This will help us show our Representatives what we already know - that film is good business for Utah! SURVEY The survey is coming out in the next few days. It’s the next step in the educational process. We need your personal stories! The legislators need to hear from the crew that work in the wide spectrum of jobs that this infrastructure provides. It’s imperative everyone responds. We need strong numbers to have a loud voice! WHITEBOARD VIDEO A Whiteboard Video that explains the Tax Rebate Program is well underway. The script is finished and has been passed along to the animator to be ready in time for the session. We will send it out to members to post and send to friends before Thanksgiving. FILM ADVOCACY DAY ON THE HILL FEB 3, 2022 Keep this day open to come up and support the film day at Capitol Hill. We win by showing our numbers. (*This is dependent on COVID-19 protocols at the Capitol Building during this time) Please feel free to email me or the board, we want to hear from you. If you took any photographs during the fall event, we would love to see those as well! And thank you for keeping an eye out for opportunities for us to share how film positively impacts Utah. Thank you for being part of our crew, Jeff Johnson President of the MPAU president@mpau.org  MPAU chief lobbyist, Charlie Evans, speaking at the Fall Event - 6 Oct 2021 Keep this day open to come up and support the film day at Capitol Hill. We win by showing our numbers.
*This is dependent on Covid-19 protocols at the capitol duMPAU Membership, We had our September monthly board meeting and I'd like to give you a quick update on what we've been working on. ECONOMIC FILM STUDY The economic impact study is very much underway. We meet with Olsberg SPI on a weekly basis and they have been collecting data from the Film Commission and reaching out to legislators and members of our film community. We should be getting some reports on the results around the end of October. We are still raising money for this study so please make sure your MPAU dues are up to date. If you know other members of the film community who should be acquainted with the MPAU and what we are trying to accomplish, please forward our information along. We are happy to answer questions at any time. Anyone can become a member or give a donation at www.MPAU.org. LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION/SURVEY We have finally completed our Survey, and will be sending it out shortly. We want to make sure that our legislators know the wide spectrum of jobs and income that this infrastructure provides to the people who live and work in Utah. It's imperative everyone responds. We need strong numbers to have a loud voice! We are also working on a white board explanation video of how the Utah Film Tax Rebate program works. It will be a 2-3 minute video explaining to our legislators the basics of how the film tax incentives work in Utah. MPAU FALL EVENT Our fall event will be on Oct. 6, at Brandy Vega Studios. Save the date! Invitations will be sent out shortly. Please feel free to come socialize and talk about the strategies for the next legislative session. This is a members only event but if someone wants to join please feel free to bring them, they can sign up on the side. *We will be masked and following on-set Covid protocols FILM ADVOCACY DAY ON THE HILL FEB 3, 2022 Keep this day open to come up and support the film day at Capitol Hill. We win by showing our numbers. *This is dependent on Covid-19 protocols at the capitol during this time If you haven't heard already, High School Musical has pulled out of Utah and will resume filming in Los Angeles in 2022. This is a big hit to the state. With the incentive fund out of money we will be losing a multitude of projects and opportunities to other states. This should never happen! Utah has the best crew, vendors and locations but again, we need to band together and show our power in numbers and make our voices heard. Thank you, Jeff Johnson President of the MPAU president@mpau.org To the Motion Picture Association of Utah Members and Friends-
I'm Jeff Johnson, a 20 year industry veteran and a casting director in Utah. I have been on the MPAU board since it's inception and I am so excited to serve as your next president. Carolyn Leone devoted years of hard work as your president and I plan to continue the work she started, and add to it. My main goal for the MPAU is to expand our ongoing Motion Picture Incentive Fund so that Utah can be competitive in the national marketplace. I want to help grow the state's film and television infrastructure and keep the industry strong in Utah. I've been doing this long enough to know it's not an easy task. We have many hurdles with our legislators and there's a long road ahead of us. We have to put in the work, and I am ready to do just that. Here are the updates that the board and I have been working on so far in 2021. 1. FILM STUDY Our legislators need economic numbers to know what they are getting out of the Motion Picture Incentive Program. In conjunction with the Utah Film Commission we have hired Olsberg SPI, UK based research firm, to do a robust financial study that will tell a broader story of film's impact in Utah. Olsberg is a very well-regarded firm that has written studies for New Zealand, Georgia, Netflix, the UK, and others on the impact of film incentive programs. This is a labor intensive and expensive study and we need everyone on board to execute this properly. You can easily help by making sure your MPAU membership is up to date. If you're in a position to make an additional donation specifically for this study please contact me directly. This is something we have needed for a long time and we're eager to see the results toward the end of September. To find out more about Olberg SPI click here 2. LEGISLATIVE EDUATION We all know some of our legislators believe the incentive program is a subsidy for "Big Hollywood." They also don't understand the size of our industry and film community. This needs to change! The Data Study will help prove the numbers of the tax incentive program and how it helps Utahans, but we need to show how organized and how big we really are. During the last legislative session we had membership write letters directly to their legislators. It worked! We were able to change a legislator's vote from NO to YES and got Cache County on our side. Over the next couple of weeks the board and I will be doing a big membership drive and sending out an on line petition to collect data on zip codes, personal stories, and contact info so during the session we can connect you directly with your legislators. 3. FALL EVENT As an organization we need to get together to stay connected. We've missed having events to meet in person to discuss plans and just hang out! We are currently looking for a covid-friendly event space to have a forum and meet & greet the end of September. If you have any location ideas reach out to VP Brooke Redmon at kimberlybrooke@gmail.com. We hope to see you all there! I want open and easy to communication with members and friends so again, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or ideas on how we can successfully lobby. I really do appreciate your membership in this organization. Our voice is louder when we're unified. Sincerely, Jeff Johnson President of the MPAU president@mpau.org |
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