sort of like going back to Junior Highschool - It's not always about the film.

Everyone making a film now seems to be looking for ways to subsidize their production through government tax credits, grants or pure subsidies. Now, even if you are not a producer or investor, you might have wondered how all of these seemingly complex deals get put together where a company in Ireland does the post, a Canadian company does the pre-production and the animation goes to China. 

Some of you may have worked on a show where you only did the sheets or the storyboard and everything else was split up and done elsewhere.   What drives these deals and can cause a very awkward division of creative input and production services?  Why of course it’s money, and most often the access to soft money.

So what exactly is soft money?  Does it bend easier than hard money and by the way, what is hard money?  Does soft money fit better in your wallet or what?

Part 1 - How does this all work and who gets to participate?

UNIVERSAL/NBC UP FOR GRABS BY COMCAST IF VIVENDI WANTS OUT

After looking at how Europe, Asia and the rest of the world offer subsidies to support their animation industries we turn our gaze on the good old USofA.  How do we stack up against our neighbors to the north or our cousins across the pond? Actually not very good.  Neartly all of our programs are though various states and their offerings are geared for live action - not animation.  Oh well, you could move to Australia or France, or....?