|
|
 |
|
Each month we will showcase a City agency employee or an industry specialist who helps to facilitate production in New York City.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Elliott Kerman, Tax Credit Accountant
January 2, 2008 - Not every accountant has his own jazz band. Even fewer can claim they once belonged to the a cappella musical group Rockapella, but Elliott Kerman, a production accountant specializing in tax credit applicants, can say yes to both.
Although he spent eighteen years touring with Rockapella, Kerman has a degree in physics and has always been numbers-oriented. His current pursuits are just a natural extension of his interests he says. “I love working in Excel and with spreadsheets,” he explained. After learning the business of production accounting from his sister-in-law, Stephanie Lane, Kerman spent three seasons on “Sex and the City” as an additional accountant to the show.
When the “Made in NY” incentive program was first launched in 2005, Kerman was one of the first to become involved in the application process, when Teddy Au, the accountant for “Hope and Faith,” asked him to figure out how to file the application. The “Made in NY” incentive program provides a refundable tax credit from the city and state for qualifying films and shows, and productions were eager to become involved. “In the first year of the program, everybody was learning,” Kerman said.
Since that time, Kerman has been called upon to work on the credit applications for numerous productions including Little Children, Pride and Glory, “Life Support,” “New Amsterdam,” and most recently Sex and the City: The Movie, among other independent works. He enjoys his work and has built a steady stream of clients based on good word of mouth.
“It’s so clear to me how beneficial the tax credit is to NY,” Kerman added. “A number of the productions I’ve worked with were definitely swayed by the incentive to shoot here in NYC.”
 More Industry Stars
| |
 |
|
