Audiovisual and live events industries appeal for stimulus package
THE film and television industries are “now fully stretched to breaking point.”
Thus asserted film director Carlos Siguion-reyna during the Senate Finance subcommittee hearing last May 29, on the stimulus package for the micro, small and medium scale industries amid the pandemic.
Siguion-reyna represented the Directors’ Guild of the Philippines (DGPI). He pointed out the new realities in film and television production if and when the work has resumed. Over and above the healthy and safety nets which will be an additional cost to the production, Siguion-reyna said the new protocols also include decreased working hours, additional shooting schedules, cutbacks on work force, and pay cuts. To complete the picture in the film industry, director Mike Tuviera of APT Production, in another forum said, “Should cinemas reopen in the time of social distancing [which can last until the the end of 2021], audiences will be seated two seats apart. That translates to 30 percent capacity per screening. It will definitely be a loss, and producers, especially the independent and small ones, will simply stop making films.”
Liza Diño, chairman and CEO of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), also pointed out: “A recent survey of the Department of Finance through the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) even placed arts, entertainment, and recreation No. 1 in the Top 10 hardest-hit business sectors caused by the pandemic.”
The National Live Events Coalition of the Philippines (NLECPH), represented by writer/director Dennis Marasigan, said the live events industry has about 30,000 micro, small and medium scale enterprises which provide employment to over 400,000 employees and workers.
With the pandemic and the consequent shows and events cancellation, jobs loss is at 370,000 jobs (92 percent of total) and about P133 billion in potential revenue (12 percent of GDP). It’s small wonder industry leaders, key players and freelance workers are in a state of near panic despite (or probably because of) various quarantine nomenclatures that don’t mean much in flattening the curve.
INTERVENTIONS PROPOSED REPRESENTATIVES of the entertainment sector are one in calling on the government to include the various industries in the entertainment field—films, television and live events—as among those eligible for stimulus package from the government. The proposals range from bail out to cover the cost of disinfection and sanitation protocols, to tax relief for producers and freelance workers and the retraining of staff members.
Patti Lapus of the Inter-guild Alliance (IGA) requested that government temporarily shoulder the cost of the health and safety protocols, around 30 percent of total budget, to soften the impact especially for small and independent producers. The DOH can also accredit medics and protocol officers for film and TV shoots. This was echoed in the FDCP’S proposal to provide disinfection and sanitation package for live-events workers—a financial assistance to support “costs related to Covid-19 mitigation like securing PPES, sanitary tools and materials, as well as rapid test kits for the workers.”
The NLECPH, meanwhile, is pushing for “allowance for the carry-over of business loses in 2019 over the next five years.” The coalition also proposed a loan mechanism to businesses within the live events industry, including freelancers and self-employed individuals. The coalition also wishes for the “inclusion of cultural institutions in programs intended to fast-track the renovation, build up or construction of infrastructure considered as part of the tourism value chain.”
Film producers, the FDCP pointed out, wants an exemption from paying amusement taxes to defray the anticipated increase in production costs as well as the loss of income. Amusement tax is collected from live performances, cinematic exhibitions, sports and similar events aimed at entertainment. It is a percentage tax determined by the local government, but at “no more than 30 percent of the gross receipts from admission fees.”
There were also proposals for wage subsidies for freelancers and self-employed individuals. The NLECPH pegged the assistance at 100 percent of minimum wage for up to the next six months.
There is also the question of retraining personnel to better equip them in multitasking. This following the IATF and DOH safety protocols, which were also included in the shooting guidelines by the IGA, that only a maximum of 70 people will be allowed on a shooting set. That means staff and crew are expected to attend to tasks they are not prepared for.
To fill the gap, the IGA seeks allocation for skills set improvement of the workers to effectively do multitasking. The FDCP said this can be a specific allocation from the proposed P10-billion assistance for the Film and Audiovisual Industry.
The IGA also wants film appreciation and education to be included in the high school curriculum to better educate the young. Siguionreyna, for his part, pointed to a a gap in developing national identity and consciousness since schools no longer teach Filipino and Panitikang Pilipino. The Commission on Higher Education ordered in 2013 to remove Filipino and Panitikang Pilipino in the general education curriculum. The Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that the order was valid.
Because of this, “the role of institutions outside the academe, such as the arts and pop culture that includes TV and cinema, became all the more important and critical.”
“Owning our national identity and being confident with it is actually a practical and muscular cultural weapon against falling victim to any cultural and economic colonizers, protecting us against a cultural and eventual economic take-over by an expansionist foreign power,” Siguion-reyna said. “We appeal to you to protect and sustain our stories and the capacity of our storytellers.”