I’m way ahead of the curve!
I want to make a movie about…..The Peoples Pope of America…..What could got wrong? I have sent many suggestions to Governor Kotek about making Oregon a film capitol due to Jeff Besoz and Amazon getting big tax breaks – but they don’t make films in Oregon.
JRP
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Newsom offers to work with Trump on $7.5bn tax credit plan to boost US films
California governor unveils idea after president threatened tariffs on films made abroad
Tue 6 May 2025 11.32 EDTShare
The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has proposed a $7.5bn tax credit program and offered to work with Donald Trump to boost US film production after the president threatened to slap 100% tariffs on films made abroad, alarming industry executives in Hollywood and abroad.
Newsom – who has had an often fractious relationship with Trump – unveiled his idea after Hollywood reacted nervously to the president’s tariffs plan, which sent share values in some film and media companies plummeting.
In a statement, Newsom said California – the historic home of the US film industry – was “eager to partner with the Trump administration to further strengthen domestic production and Make America Film Again”.
“America continues to be a film powerhouse, and California is all in to bring more production here,” Newsom said.
A spokesperson for his office told the Washington Post that the program, if it came to fruition, would be the biggest government tax initiative for the film industry in US history and the first at a federal level.
The initiative was triggered after Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the US film industry was “dying” and unveiled plans for a tariffs on overseas-made productions to reverse the trend, which he called “a national security threat”.
Tax incentives and subsidies have seen an increasing number of big productions being shot on location in countries like Britain, Canada and the Czech Republic, reversing a historic trend that saw most Hollywood films during the 20th century shot in Los Angeles
This year’s biggest-grossing film, A Minecraft Movie, was shot in Canada, while the next film in the Mission: Impossible series, due for release on Memorial Day, was shot in the UK and other foreign locations.
Hollywood executives reacted with alarm to Trump’s tariff plan, the Wall Street Journal reported, noting they “expressed confusion over how a levy could be applied to intellectual property with no specific monetary value”. The Journal also noted that the executives were fearful of retaliatory tariffs as they could impact their overseas business.
On Monday, shares in media companies and movie theater chains like Disney, Netflix and beyond fell.
The Journal also reported that Jon Voight, the 86-year-old actor and Trump appointed “special ambassador” to Hollywood, discussed a federal policy with tax incentives and infrastructure subsidies to encourage studios to conduct more of their production work in the US at a meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago last weekend.
In a statement on Monday, Voight said: “We look forward to working with the administration, the unions, studios and streamers to help form a plan to keep our industry healthy and bring more productions back to America.skip past newsletter promotion
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“By creating the right environment through smart incentives, updated policies, and much-needed support, we can ensure that American production companies thrive, more jobs stay here at home, and Hollywood once again leads the world in creativity and innovation.”
Voight and his manager, Steven Paul, reportedly submitted a “comprehensive plan” to Trump about “what changes need to be made to increase domestic film production,” according to NBC News.
Newsom’s tax credit proposal would be based on an existing film and television tax credit program that his office says has generated more than $26bn since it was introduced in 2009. Last October, the governor announced a plan to extend the scheme to $750m annually, more than doubling its $330m annual allocation.
Some critics have questioned the effectiveness of such credits. In testimony to the state’s Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee in March, Michael Thom, a professor at the University of Southern California who studies the financial implications of state incentives to attract the film industry, said such initiatives “fail to stimulate enough economic activity to justify their substantial cost”.
“Simply put, California cannot afford the existing incentive, much less a substantial expansion to it,” he said.
Oregon Made Movies
Posted on January 29, 2023 by Royal Rosamond Press
I’ gathering all my posts about making movies in Oregon, and my inclusion of Phil Knight and tennis shoes in my book and movie ‘The Royal Janitor’. I shared this post with Tina Kotek on her Facebook.
Carolyn Chambers made two movies. One of them was filmed in Oregon. I met Carolyn when she came over to my friend’s house to see his huge garage on 4th. Street in The Whitaker. Jeff had lined ip Whit musicians in 1990, and wanted to broadcast them live on KEZI. It did not happen.
The Sisters was shot in Eugene, and may be the worst movie every made, followed by Puerto Vallarta Squeeze a James Bondish – thing. Daniel Craig’s character in Knives Out has been revealed as a homosexuals’, making my Bond book, The Royal Janitor, more credible. Both of these movies can be turned into Shakespearean plays. I can do it.
I see a new kind of movie theatre located in industrial parks across America. There will be catering trucks in the parking lot. You can call in a order from your I-phone and it is delivered to…
View original post 1,479 more words
Under The Sea Adventure
Posted on February 24, 2025 by Royal Rosamond Press
I am overwhelmed with stories. I need help! So does Governor Kotek – who may be overpowered by Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffet. This moring I saw a segment on a new movie ‘Last Breath’.
John Presco
“I will be very frank,” Kotek said at the meeting. “I would prefer to have had this conversation maybe a couple months ago, so we’re not feeling like a little under the gun to make an approval when I think we probably have more we want to discuss.”
Last Breath is a 2019 British documentary film directed by Richard da Costa and Alex Parkinson. It relates the story of a serious saturation diving accident in 2012, when diver Chris Lemons had his umbilical cable severed and became trapped around 100 metres (330 ft) under the sea without heat or light, and with only the small amount of breathing gas in his backup tank.[2]
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In November at the grand opening of Hong Kong Disneyland’s World of Frozen area, D’Amaro teased to Entertainment Weekly a long-rumored Indiana Jones revamp of Animal Kingdom’s Dinosaur ride.
“I think I actually played some music, didn’t I?” D’Amaro joked, referencing his Destination D23 presentation in September, which saw him reveal artwork showing off an Indy-inspired temple in place of the existing Dinosaur thrill ride, all while John Williams‘ iconic score played overhead.
“We’ve got so many stories to tell, we have so many things we want to make even better in the theme parks. My plan is to continue to share that with the guests,” he continued. “I know people are like, ‘My gosh, I can’t believe he’s saying this. Is he serious, is he not?’ The answer is, we are absolutely serious.”
Warren Buffett
The fires were among the worst natural disasters in Oregon’s history. They killed nine people, burned more than 1,875 square miles (4,856 square kilometers) and destroyed upward of 5,000 homes and other structures.
The Oregon lawsuits say PacifiCorp negligently failed to shut off power to its 600,000 customers during a windstorm over Labor Day weekend in 2020, despite warnings from state leaders and top fire officials, and that its power lines caused multiple blazes.
Representatives of PacifiCorp and Berkshire Hathaway Energy declined to comment about the new liabilities. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the potential lawsuits.
Buffett said that in extreme cases like with Pacific Gas and Electric in California or Hawaiian Electric utilities could face bankruptcy and the country may have to decide whether to turn to public power if private investors are no longer willing to take the risks associated with the utility business.
Amazon’s subsea cable gets approval, but Oregon leaders want more regulation
By April Ehrlich (OPB)
Aug. 14, 2023 6 a.m.
Oregon’s coast is attractive for tech companies looking to install under water cables. A past case shows what can go wrong.
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Amazon’s plans to install an undersea fiber-optic cable off the Tillamook County coast gained approval from state leaders last week, though with some reluctance.
During a state land board meeting on Wednesday, Gov. Tina Kotek and Treasurer Tobias Read both said they wanted the state to adopt more robust regulations of undersea cables, particularly after a disastrous cable installation by Meta, Facebook’s parent company, in 2020.
That spring, contracted workers with construction companies Edge Cable Holdings and SubCom were drilling into the seafloor off the coast of Tierra del Mar in Tillamook County when the massive drill’s bit broke. Workers weren’t able to retrieve the equipment, so they left about 1,100 feet of 6-inch steel pipe, an 11-inch diameter drill tip, and 6,500 gallons of drilling fluid in the ocean. Two sinkholes later formed along the cable’s pathway.
State regulators didn’t find out about the incident until two months later, when they heard about it from county leaders. At that point they hired environmental consultants to analyze the incident and its aftermath. Researchers concluded the metal equipment now stuck in Oregon’s seafloor will have minimal environmental impacts, though it will likely corrode over time.
Facebook and Edge Holdings executives paid the state $250,000 for damages, and a one-time easement fee of $135,700 — which essentially allows them to leave the abandoned equipment where it is.
During last week’s meeting, Oregon Department of State Lands staff recommended the land board — which consists of Kotek, Read, and Secretary of State LaVonne Griffin-Valade — approve Amazon’s easement application. The permit would allow the company to operate a subsea cable off Oregon’s coast for the next 20 years.
Amazon’s cable will stretch about 9,500 miles from Singapore, across the Pacific Ocean through Guam, to a landing site at the Wi-Ne-Ma Christian Camp in rural Tillamook County. It will also have a branch reaching down to Southern California.
The cable will be buried about 5,000 feet deep along Oregon’s sea shelf to ensure it doesn’t interfere with commercial fishing routes. It will run from the ocean to a manhole at its coastal landing site in Tillamook County, where workers will be able to access it for maintenance. From there, workers will bury it at least 3 feet deep along its route from the coast to Hillsboro.
Trenching work for burying the cable has already begun near Highway 6, according to Tillamook County officials. Amazon workers plan to finish installing the cable by April 2024.
In its easement application, Amazon said it had considered landing in Washington instead of Oregon, but that state’s outer coast lacks enough fiber infrastructure to connect to other cables in Olympia.
Kotek called the land board vote a “status quo” decision, saying Amazon’s easement mirrored another permit given to Facebook three years ago for a cable stretching from Japan and the Philippines to Oregon and California. Department heads said the company followed existing state rules around subsea cable permits, and that the land board decision was the final step needed to meet Amazon’s construction timeline.
“I will be very frank,” Kotek said at the meeting. “I would prefer to have had this conversation maybe a couple months ago, so we’re not feeling like a little under the gun to make an approval when I think we probably have more we want to discuss.”
After Facebook’s drilling incident, lawmakers passed House Bill 2603. That 2021 legislation requires an advisory council to propose revisions to Oregon’s Territorial Sea Plan, the document that governs how the state utilizes its portion of the seafloor. It hasn’t been updated in more than two decades.
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So far, proposed revisions include requiring cable installers to hold public information meetings, analyze socioeconomic and environmental impacts, and provide detailed accident response plans.
The bill also requires the council to consider a new way of calculating permit fees. Oregon currently charges a flat rate of $5,000 for an easement, with no additional annual fee. By contrast, California charges annual rent for easements. Rent is calculated based on the property’s value, how long the cable is, and a number of other factors.
Oregon’s easement agreements currently include a “future imposition” clause that says if state law changes to require additional fees, the applicant must pay them. Applicants have the option of paying $300,000 to remove the clause from an agreement, which Amazon did. Kotek proposed approving the easement only under the condition that Amazon still be beholden to future legislative changes, but after some discussion, the board ditched that idea.
Members of the territorial sea plan work group say creating a new way of charging easement fees goes beyond their jurisdiction, so lawmakers will have to take up the issue. The advisory council plans to provide lawmakers with its recommendations during the 2025 legislative session.
Facebook’s fiber optic cable also runs through Tillamook County, though it built its landing site between residential properties in unincorporated Tierra del Mar. The company didn’t notify residents of its plans, so many were alarmed when they’d heard about the proposed industrial cable landing site near them. Facebook staff declined to comment for this story.
Amazon has taken a different approach. Company officials chose a landing site well away from residential areas. Amazon staff also participated in town halls along with state and local officials, and worked with county leaders to bring cell service and broadband to rural areas that previously lacked them.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever run across a company that’s asking us what they can do for Tillamook County,” said Commissioner David Yamamoto.
Amazon is partnering with Astound Communications to help connect about 270 homes to the high-speed internet provided by the fiber optic cable along its route to Hillsboro, company staff told state leaders last week. The company is also working with Verizon to build cell towers along Highway 6 to bring cell service to the area.
Yamamoto said about seven trans-Pacific cables run through Tillamook County, many running a few feet underground on their way to Hillsboro.
There are about 19 subsea cables off Oregon’s entire coastline, some dating back to the 1990s. Many earlier cables helped people connect by telephone, while newer ones help people connect to the internet and transmit data. Some undersea cables also transmit renewable energy, including Oregon State University’s recently approved PacWave cable.
Oregon will likely see more proposed ocean cables as demands increase for faster data transmission between countries. Companies like Facebook and Amazon benefit from having their own fiber optic infrastructure, because they profit when others want to buy that data transmitting capacity.
Oregon and California have prime landing sites for cables because they host inland data centers. Companies also tend to favor landing in Southern California because that part of the state has fewer regulatory hurdles.
Even so, California overall still has a more robust regulatory structure in place than Oregon.
“California has a very long coastline, much longer than Oregon,” said Cameron La Follette, executive director of the Oregon Coast Alliance. “But it also has very high cable landing fees, and often residents of areas ashore that don’t want a cable landing in the area.”
La Follette said she’s concerned about increased industrial activity in the ocean, since drilling into the seabed can be highly intrusive to sea creatures.
Some state regulators share her concern. During the public comment period for Amazon’s cable permit, staff with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said the company’s plans for drilling coincide with endangered gray whale migration. State officials feared the whales’ routes would be disrupted by the drilling noise, or that migrating whales could become entangled in equipment.
In a response from 48 North Solutions, an environmental consultant hired by Amazon, workers said they would slow the drilling vessel if whales approach, and they will use specialized muzzles to reduce noise. The consultant also said entanglement was unlikely, since its cable installation process moves slowly.
In addition to political contributions over the years, Buffett endorsed and made campaign contributions to Barack Obama‘s presidential campaign. On July 2, 2008, Buffett attended a $28,500 per plate fundraiser for Obama’s campaign in Chicago.[185] Buffett intimated that John McCain‘s views on social justice were so far from his own that McCain would need a “lobotomy” for Buffett to change his endorsement.[186] During the second 2008 U.S. presidential debate, McCain and Obama, after being asked first by presidential debate mediator Tom Brokaw, both mentioned Buffett as a possible future Secretary of the Treasury.[187] Later, in the third and final presidential debate, Obama mentioned Buffett as a potential economic advisor.[188] Buffett was also a financial advisor to Republican candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger during the 2003 California gubernatorial election.[189]
On December 16, 2015, Buffett endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for president.[190] On August 1, 2016, Buffett challenged Donald Trump to release his tax returns.[191][192] On October 10, 2016, after a reference to him in the second presidential debate, Buffett released his own tax return.[193][194] He said he had paid $1.85 million in federal income taxes in 2015 on an adjusted gross income of $11.6 million, meaning he had an effective federal income tax rate of around 16 percent. Buffett also said he had made more than $2.8 billion worth of donations last year.[194] In response to Trump saying he was unable to release his tax information due to being under audit, Buffett said, “I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump—at least he would have no legal problem.”[194] Buffett has said he would judge President Donald Trump by his results on national safety, economic growth a
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