Financing 169 gleam in the producer's eye if part of the actual cash burden had not been removed by a co-production deal. In terms of disadvan- tages, you will still need to have hard cash for the above-the-line payroll--that is, the cast, director, writer, and production office staff. No film is made without these people, and they will not take I.O.U.s, although some take deferred salaries. Another disadvan- tage is that finding enough skilled personnel in a host country could be a problem. If you end up having to fly key technical people from the United States to another country, you may end up with a bud- get burden that offsets the advantages of the co-production deal. film incentiveS Federal Film Incentive In 2004, Congress passed the American Jobs Creation Act. Section 181 of that act provides for an incentive for film and television produc- tions. The incentive was to end in December 31, 2008; however, it was