Cameron sits down with Josh Rogin, Senior Vice President of Federal Government Affairs at the Motion Picture Association (MPA), to examine a federal production tax credit introduced in Congress to keep more film and television production in the United States.

Josh spent 20 years on Capitol Hill, including more than a decade as chief of staff to Rep. Ted Deutch, before joining the MPA. There, he advocates before Congress, the administration, and federal agencies on intellectual property, copyright, AI, technology, trade, and tax. He previously served as Vice President of Federal Affairs at the Computer & Communications Industry Association, was named to the 2023 Washingtonian list of the 500 Most Influential People Shaping Policy, and holds a JD with honors and a BA in history from the University of Michigan.

Josh walks through the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, a bipartisan, bicameral bill that, as introduced, would create a federal credit of 20% of qualifying U.S. labor costs, with bonuses that could raise it to 30%. Productions would need to spend at least $1 million and shoot at least 75% of their principal photography days in the United States. The credit is designed to stack with state incentives. It includes bonuses for independent productions, rural locations, shooting across multiple states, and bringing work back from overseas, plus separate provisions for post-production and visual effects.

He explains why the credit is tied to wages and makes the case, in his telling, that the U.S. share of production for the domestic market has fallen from about 65% to about 39% as Canada, the UK, Australia, and South Africa have built national incentives. He also discusses an MPA-commissioned economic study and what the credit could mean for below-the-line crews, small vendors, and local communities.

The conversation also covers how a bill like this moves through Congress, the broad coalition behind it, and what producers and crew can do, from contacting their members of Congress to getting involved through usfilmandtv.org.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are solely their own and do not reflect the views of Wrapbook, its employees, or affiliates.

Cameron sits down with Kory Orban and Scooter Corkle, two of the creators behind The Comprehensive Dictionary of Cinema, to explore the language of filmmaking and what it reveals about the industry itself.

Kory began his career as a production assistant and rose to unit manager on large-scale Hollywood service productions, working on shows for HBO, Netflix, Marvel, 20th Century Fox, and ABC, including the first two seasons of The Last of Us. He is a full member of the Directors Guild of Canada and a graduate of Capilano University’s Motion Picture Arts program, and he holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta. His debut short film, Insert Short Film Title, screened at more than 100 international festivals. He is also the co-founder of Cinematicalism, a Vancouver-based film culture brand dedicated to advancing cinematic literacy.

Scooter started in 2003 as a PA on music videos and worked his way through the camera, grip, and electric departments, as a grip on Air Buddies, a lamp op on Tron: Legacy, and a gaffer on Beyond the Black Rainbow. He went on to shoot independent films as a cinematographer before directing his own work. His shorts have screened at Tribeca, Telluride, Toronto After Dark, and Clermont-Ferrand, and his features Hollow in the Land and The Friendship Game have streamed worldwide on Netflix, Crave, and Shudder. The Austin Film Festival and MovieMaker Magazine named him one of their 25 Screenwriters to Watch.

Together with co-author Chrissy Mozylisky, Kory and Scooter created a dictionary of thousands of terms across 11 sections, covering on-set terminology, film theory, technical disciplines, and fan culture. It began as a passion project under Cinematicalism, which started as Kory’s social media account. It then grew into a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $220,000 against a $7,500 goal, with support from nearly 3,000 backers.

Kory and Scooter discuss the challenge of documenting an industry where the same term can mean entirely different things across departments, regions, and stages of production. Drawing on their experience in locations, lighting, writing, and directing, they explain how specialized vocabularies develop. Depending on who’s asking, “AC” can mean an assistant camera, a power cable, or air conditioning. And when communication breaks down on set, it costs productions time and money.

The conversation also goes behind the making of the 1,312-page dictionary. They describe building its 5,424 entries from more than 2,300 distinct references, through a review process that drew on more than 35 contributors, including writers, fact checkers, and copy editors. Along the way, they share the terminology debates that took the longest to settle, how technology and culture keep reshaping film language, and why understanding the words of cinema can deepen an appreciation for the craft.

Corrections: The podcast Kory and Scooter hosted together, which featured interviews with below-the-line department heads, is called PodCast & Crew, not Below the Line. Also, The Comprehensive Dictionary of Cinema has 11 sections, not nine, which was initially mentioned during the recording. The book expanded from its originally planned nine sections after the success of the Kickstarter campaign.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are solely their own and do not reflect the views of Wrapbook, its employees, or affiliates.