Report from the Michigan Film Council meeting at the 2009 Traverse City Film Festival

Thanks to Impact for providing open wireless!

The Big Story is that a remake of the 80s invasion classic Red Dawn. The film will be entirely shot in Michigan, adding a new meaning to the battle cry of “Wolverines!”

Richard Jewell is the new workforce development guy. He will be tasked with developing a Michigan certification program for film crew. Janet warns to be careful when selecting a “film school” as many of them are turning out people with poor skills who can’t get a job. Richard promises that we will develop a program that ensures Michiganians will be employed in the film industry. New Mexico is a target for the state as they are getting tons of projects through the infrastructure and support to the industry they have established.

Michael Moore was asked to deliver a report on the Traverse City Film Festival which is estimated to pour over $10 million into the regional economy over the first few days alone. He says that the TCFF has had more than 250,000 admissions over the first 5 years and that this year the festival has drawn filmmakers from 50 countries worldwide. Central was a salute to Scandinavian film. In addition to the opening film Troubled Water, there was the sold out midnight screening of the “Nazi zombie pic” Dead Snow.

Picking up on a theme that Cherie highlighted in Festival Inspiration, Michael noted that there were a lot of young folk (including his niece) who probably saw their first subtitled film last night. He notes that one of the purposes of the festival is to increase film literacy and that when they go away to school, they probably won’t feel shy about seeing a film with subtitles.

Mike notes that he and festival director Deb Lake will share  how they’ve done what they’ve done at the State Theatre and in the TCFF with anyone – call them! He also reiterated that there are no minimum wage jobs on a film set and his hopes that Michigan not let our ship sail in and then sail away.

The director of the University of Michigan Film School followed up by saying that the year we passed the film incentive was the first year that he saw students staying in Michigan instead of heading out to LA or New York. “40 years ago we went to the moon – can you imagine if we’d kept going what would have happened. You have to imagine your future – just give this thing a chance.”