Cameron sits down with Meg Montagnino-Jarrett, Director of the Massachusetts Film Office,  to break down how one of the more straightforward incentive programs in the United States works in practice.

Previously, Montagnino-Jarrett held the role of Film Liaison for the Cape Ann area of Massachusetts, where she played a pivotal role in developing the region’s film industry. A film producer and media veteran of the motion picture industry, she brings over three decades of experience to her current role. Montagnino-Jarrett joined the Film Office in December 2023 and has since overseen AMC episodic TV The Walking Dead: Dead City (Seasons 2 & 3), Barry Jenkins’ Sorry, Baby, A24’s The Drama and Tony, Apple TV episodic Widow’s Bay, and other current productions. Her impressive credits include iconic films such as Good Will Hunting and The Departed. Montagnino-Jarrett holds a Bachelor of Arts from Marquette University.

The conversation focuses on how to think about the program economically and how producers should structure budgets and schedules to qualify without creating problems later. Montagnino-Jarrett walks through the real-world workflow—from registration and spend tracking to final certification—and highlights the small administrative details that can quietly delay or jeopardize a credit.

They also cover where producers tend to misjudge the state, how to think about partial versus full relocations, and what types of projects tend to work best. Montagnino-Jarrett shares how Massachusetts positions itself against other incentive states, where the crew base is strongest, and what practical tradeoffs producers should consider when deciding where to shoot.

On this episode of On Production, we sit down with Kerry LaiFatt, Vice President of Sales for Film and Television at Wrapbook, to explore the invisible infrastructure that keeps productions running: payroll and accounting.

With a career that spans on-camera work, unscripted media conferences, and nearly a decade inside one of the industry’s largest payroll and accounting platforms, Kerry brings a rare perspective on how financial systems shape what happens on set. She explains why payroll isn’t just back-office processing—it influences scheduling, hiring, union compliance, and cost reporting—and how breakdowns in these systems don’t stay on paper; they surface in production.

The conversation also examines what’s changed post-2020, from experience gaps and onboarding bottlenecks to the growing expectation that payroll partners provide operational guidance, not just processing. Kerry discusses the shift toward truly paperless, self-serve workflows and the emerging role of AI in reducing cognitive load across production finance, helping teams eliminate friction so they can focus on strategic decisions instead of cleanup.

For producers, accountants, and studio teams navigating today’s evolving production landscape, this episode offers a practical look at the systems that quietly determine whether a production stays aligned or drifts.