Emerald Studio

Emerald Studio Qualified Opportunity Zone (OZ) Fund LLC represents the first full-service film & television production company in Massachusetts. Taking advantage of the major shift towards streaming media content, Emerald Studio will capitalize on meeting the increased demand of these production efforts gravitating towards states that offer the most competitive incentive programs. Massachusetts paid out over $100 million in subsidies last year and has recently made its program permanent. In addition to leveraging both state and federal film industry tax advantages, Emerald Studio investors will also benefit from the OZ tax program. Facilities will include significant production/sound stage and office space located within Greater Boston’s designated OZ areas.
The Emerald Studio OZ Fund is considered a multi asset fund since it owns both a production studio and a separate slate financing company. The financing business will leverage IRS tax code 181 which allows for qualified production expenses to be depreciated in just twelve months. Those funds are then expected to be recycled every 18 months. This potentially will allow the fund to pass the investor multiple times their initial investment in the form of passive losses. This depreciation is then forgiven (no recalculation) even for non-capital gain investments. Since the financing business can begin operations immediately, investments do not need to wait until studio construction is complete to generate returns.
Emerald Studio is being organized and operated by a successful group of industry professionals including actor Neal McDonough (Band of Brothers, Yellowstone), Casey Sherman (The Finest Hours, Patriots Day), Dave Wedge (Patriots Day), Ben Mezrich (The Social Network, 21), Mark Lund (former GM of CBSBoston). These award winning producers, actors, screenwriters and media executives are all coming together to help grow Massachusetts into a film & television production powerhouse. This group of industry insiders alone represent a pipeline of projects that will keep Emerald busy to start.
It’s unusual to find a film industry investment opportunity that represents both production and financing. It’s even more unusual to find one that leverages the two most significant US tax incentive programs simultaneously. The total equity raise for this project is $75 million with $150 million of debt. This will immediately make Emerald Studio the largest in the state and expected to create 100’s of sustainable high quality jobs. Capitalizing on the major industry shift coupled with multiple tax advantages, Emerald Studio strives to help the state play a much larger role shaping the future of the industry.