I thought visual artists were in super high demand and could get a job anywhere. I only skimmed the article but is this not the case any longer?
Very much not the case. Especially those of us with specific skill sets related to films.
MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
11–20 of 45 posts
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#12If the administration wants to do something about this, three little words will do it: investigate hollywood accounting. And then go after the amount lost in tax revenue.
Little to non is lost in tax revenue due to hollywood accounting; The money and taxes are accounted for in other entities. It's just the reporting of anything other than gross (and contracts based on that reporting) is misleading.
The money and taxes are accounted for in other entities
Are those other entities all based in (and taxed in) the USA?
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#13If the states compete with subsidies, I cannot see how small countries with small populations and economies (such as new zealand) cannot also offer tax breaks. They would be laughed out of court. Not to mention all the farming and energy subsidies paid by the federal government at the detriment of other countries. This is just a flimsy case for protectionism.
It's actually a case for free trade. CVDs are meant to balance out the advantages of foreign subsidies (protectionism) and provide a level playing field for domestic (US) industries. As far as I'm aware there aren't any such laws about free trade between states, so when Louisiana passes subsidies and takes work from California, I don't think there's anything you can do about it. But once it goes international, various treaties come into effect. Of course they were designed around things like cotton and steel but there's no reason they can't be applied to high tech industries.
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#14Anyone got a source for this comment referenced in the article?
"In 2006, Princeton economist Alan Blinder famously warned that the critical economic divide in the future will 'be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire or via wireless connections with little or no diminution in quality, and those that are not.'”
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#15What a horrible article. I've stopped half-way through because it would just refuse to report the 4 lines that make up this news, instead making it look like a clip-show in a cartoon, going off on a side road after every 2 words of content.
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#16Classification of digital goods as imports? Apparently, now we should we start getting ready for the email tax.
What digital goods are in this case is imported services, something that is increasing rapidly and not covered in trade policies as clearly as physical goods.
If you employ an overseas statistician or buy software from an overseas supplier, you are basically importing statistics or software. The fact that these are a digital good/service makes little difference from an economic perspective.
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#17Anyone got a source for this comment referenced in the article? "In 2006, Princeton economist Alan Blinder famously warned that the critical economic divide in the future will 'be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire or via wireless connections with little or no diminution in quality, and those that are not.'”
I don't but I also don't see why that's "famously" if it's from 2006.
I did a grad school paper on automation/relocation/innovation regarding union busting and this stuff has been predicted since the microchip.
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#18Classification of digital goods as imports? Apparently, now we should we start getting ready for the email tax.
How do you place value on an import? Let's say you import an Airbus, and you have to declare its value. Do you just add up the kgs of aluminium and plexiglass and carbon fibre and steel? Or do you itemise it and say you paid this much for the engines and this much for the fuselage? How do you account for the labour? Or the R&D? Nevermind the computer system(s) that flies the thing.
In the world of physical things we know the value of something based on how much someone is willing to pay for it. That should include all the materials and labour and R&D etc. So we can know how much someone paid for the Airbus and that's it's market value.
In the past, if you filmed something overseas or maybe just did the VFX work, you would send back reels of film. I imagine that most of the time when getting them through customs just the physical value was declared - ie $10k for some Kodak film. Nevermind the fact that you may have paid someone overseas $100 million for the completed movie. From a customs point of view it's impossible to tell the difference between someone's student film and a Hollywood blockbuster, the medium is the same.
Now deliver the film digitally and all trace of it goes away. So Hollywood can send a check for $100 million to the UK and get back a digital copy of a film which doesn't show up as being imported at all.
The complicating issue here is that someplace like the UK might offer a 25% subsidy to make the movie there, so you spend $100 million, get a digital copy of the film and a check for $25 million from the UK (or just pay $75 million depending on how it's arranged). Which causes jobs to be lost in the US, but it's harder to see than when someone changes the price of steel because the actual product is invisible to the normal import process. Why is a movie different than an Airbus? (This could be used as an argument against tariffs and import duties in the first place (even on Airbuses), ie free trade, which is why they're pursuing CVDs which came into effect through various free trade agreements.)
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#19So protectionism is now the next cool thing?
Re: MPAA’s latest anti-piracy move accidentally screws Hollywood studios
#20Anyone got a source for this comment referenced in the article? "In 2006, Princeton economist Alan Blinder famously warned that the critical economic divide in the future will 'be between those types of work that are easily deliverable through a wire or via wireless connections with little or no diminution in quality, and those that are not.'”