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UNIVERSITIES’ CREATIVE FILM ALLIANCE WORKING TO RETAIN STAR TALENT, BOOST STATE FILM INDUSTRYJuly 21, 2010 Contact: Joe Serwach, (734) 647-1844 or jserwach@umich.edu Some of the brightest stars from Michigan’s research universites are aligning through the Michigan Creative Film Alliance, a collaboration to help build and drive talent and resources toward the state’s fledgling film industry. The collaboration began this month with a one-semester class for select students from the three University Research Corridor universities, Michigan State University, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University. The students have the opportunity to create a short film, utilizing their own talents and skills while being mentored by top instructors in the field. “We have proven that we can attract big productions from Hollywood — productions that generate jobs and stimulate local economies — and that is good,” said Emery King, who chairs the Michigan Film Advisory Commission and helped bring the three together. “Now, we are focusing on retaining our own talented young people and attracting others to our state who will use their creative skills and talent to sustain that growth and success. It is a significant step in achieving Gov. Jennifer Granholm's stated objective of reversing the so-called brain drain, by making opportunities available that will keep these talented young people here in Michigan, paying taxes and contributing to the overall economic growth.” The venture officially kicked off July 7 at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station at Gull Lake where students and faculty met for a three-day retreat. The keynote speaker was Bill Mechanic, a respected film producer and MSU graduate. Mechanic has produced many films and oversees his own company, Pandemonium Films. While at the retreat, students from the three universities became familiar with each other and the faculty as they prepare to jointly produce a feature film. The new film, “Appleville,” involves students and faculty from the URC partners, who are each playing a role in taking the new film from idea to story to finished project, serving as writers, directors, actors and other creative talent. The film is part of a pilot effort to launch the alliance, whose main goals include:
“Since the passage of the Michigan Film Incentive Law in 2008, dozens of alumni from the three major research universities have had an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the real world of filmmaking,” said Sharon Vasquez, dean of Wayne State’s College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts, who helped provide organizational leadership for the partnership. “Reading the credits of the 80 films made in Michigan in the last two years shows that our students have not only taken what they have learned in our courses to help start their own careers - but to help revitalize the Michigan economy itself.” Jim Burnstein, screenwriting coordinator in U-M’s Department of Screen Arts & Cultures and a member of the commission who provided the vision behind starting a summer film institute as an initial project, noted the new alliance is already encouraging promising talent to focus on a future in Michigan, citing the film’s screen writer, U-M undergraduate Erin Whittemore. “As this a Hopwood winner for screenwriting, Erin follows in the distinguished footsteps of dramatic writers Arthur Miller and Lawrence Kasden,” he said. “Erin's parents are both doctors in Ohio. She came to the University of Michigan as a pre-med student but quickly fell in love with film and especially screenwriting.” “The Creative Film Alliance is a wonderful example of a true university partnership — with economic and educational benefits,” said Pamela Whitten, dean of MSU’s College of Communication Arts and Sciences. “The alliance demonstrates our college’s commitment to community outreach, and also to the growth of the film industry in Michigan. The alliance is unique in its partnering of three major public universities with film expertise, all which happen to be in Michigan.” The URC was founded in 2006 by the presidents of the three research-intensive universities to leverage the power of Michigan’s research universities to transform, strengthen and diversify the state’s economy. While the URC’s early focus has involved growing industries such as life sciences and green energy, the Creative Film Alliance is the first effort to work collaboratively to assist the film industry, which has been growing rapidly since the state passed new film incentives in 2008. Whitemore’s script was selected from a host of scripts submitted by students at the three universities this spring. Team members from the three universities gathered July 7-9 at Gull Lake near Battle Creek for a production retreat, moving into pre-production work and departmental training later this month and putting the film into production Aug. 6-20, shooting at a location in southeastern Michigan. They will begin post-production work in September and hope to begin preparing the film for submission to various film festivals later this fall. The project is being financed through the support of a Michigan Economic Development Corp. grant. “I am told that this collaboration is historic, as it brings the big three together on the creative side for the first time,” King said. “It is the first step in what I hope will result in a collaborative program that will allow students to move more freely between the schools to round out their education in film and related studies. It is my hope that the program may over time expand to include curriculum in business, music and other endeavors that can be tied in to all phases of production.” For more on the alliance, visit: http://mi-cfa.com For more on the URC, visit: www.urcmich.org
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