Syracuse Film Office

The Syracuse Film Office is a collaborative effort between Visit Syracuse, CNY Film Professionals, Onondaga County, and the Syracuse International Film Festival to develop, grow, and represent the film, television, and new media industries in the Central New York region.

Our goal is to develop the film and video industry in this region, in every sector from feature films to TV and commercial videos, and to help cut red tape to incentivize producers and the local community to create here. These productions have a huge economic impact in job creation and provide an excellent positive public relations effect for the region.

We believe that we have all the components needed for development of a vibrant and sustainable film industry here, with the talent, the personnel, ambition, and the financial incentives available, including through the Film Tax Credit, and we invite all interested parties to work with us in this effort.

WHAT WE DO

Provide opportunities for local crew to jump-start their careers.

Host an online database of local crew, businesses and approved locations.

Organize workshops for filmmakers and crew to learn techniques from professionals.

Hold public networking events with industry professionals.

Provide resources to assist local crew, and out-of-state producers scouting CNY.

Offer assistance with proper business etiquette, and financial and tax information.

Connect local businesses and vendors with on-going productions in the CNY region.

Act as a platform for filmmakers to spread the word about on-going productions.

Provide information on obtaining permits and licensing requirements.

Host the annual Syracuse International Film Festival

Assist local filmmakers with getting their films premiered.

A letter from International Cinematographers Guild President John Lindley and 13 other top cinematographers was sent to Hollywood studios urging them to reduce excessively long workday hours on film sets as they resumed talks with IATSE on Tuesday on a new collective bargaining agreement.

Along with Lindley, the letter was signed by four Oscar-winning cinematographers, including Roger A. Deakins (“1917,” “Blade Runner 2049”), Emmanuel Lubezki (“The Revenant”), Erik Messerschmidt (“Mank”), and John Toll (“Braveheart”).

Read the full article on TheWrap by clicking here.

PITTSFIELD — Get Diane Pearlman talking about visual effects and she will provide several stories about cutting-edge techniques that were created in the Berkshires for many well-known movies.

For six years in the 1990s, Pearlman served as executive producer and general manager of Mass.Illusion, a visual effects movie studio that had an office in Lenox. Two movies that Mass.Illusion worked on in the Berkshires, “What Dreams May Come” and “The Matrix,” received Academy Awards for visual effects in 1999 and 2000, respectively.

Mass.Illusions no longer exists, but Pearlman remained in the Berkshires after the company was sold. She now serves as executive director of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, an organization that promotes and facilitates film and media production in the Berkshires.

To read the full story on The Berkshire Eagle, click here.

Last month, Ben Gottlieb, a 27-year-old set lighting technician, wanted to show his support for his union’s campaign to improve working conditions on film sets so he wrote an Instagram post calling for an end to 12- to 14-hour shifts.

As with many of his colleagues, the Brooklynite felt burned out after working grueling hours without substantial breaks for much of the last year. Some nights, he was so tired driving home that he felt inebriated. He even thought about quitting — only two years after joining his union, IATSE Local 52.

The post struck a chord, drawing more than 21,000 likes. Gottlieb was soon inundated with messages from industry colleagues sharing their own stories, which prompted him to create a dedicated page called IATSE Stories. In just a few weeks, more than 500 posts have drawn nearly 17,000 followers to the page.

To read the entire story on the Los Angeles Times’ site, click here.

IATSE leaders say they remain “very far apart” on a wide range of issues in their negotiations with management’s AMPTP for a new film and TV contract.

“After more than six weeks of negotiation over a period of four months, it remains clear that the employers are unwilling to resolve our priority issues – living wages, reasonable rest, meal breaks, sustainable benefits and streaming – aka ‘not so new media,’” IATSE president Matthew Loeb and leaders of the union’s 13 West Coast studio locals said today in a message to their members.

To read the full article on Deadline.com, click here.

IATSE is gearing up for a possible strike against the film and television industry, which would be the first industry-wide strike in the union’s history. The union and management’s AMPTP will return to the bargaining table on Thursday in an effort to reach an agreement on a new film and TV contract in advance of Friday’s expiration of their current deal.

A strike, if it comes to that, would still be several weeks away, however, as IATSE continues to lay the groundwork for a possible walkout, which includes a text-messaging campaign to educate members about the negotiations and what’s at stake.

To read the full article on Deadline, click here.