{"id":1147,"date":"2013-02-28T17:21:06","date_gmt":"2013-02-28T17:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.michiganmoviemakers.com\/blog\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2013-03-06T01:42:33","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T01:42:33","slug":"we-swoted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.michiganmoviemakers.com\/blog\/2013\/02\/28\/we-swoted\/","title":{"rendered":"We SWOTed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Against the smear of a wintry Michigan highway, a woman in a sapphire 2007 Ford Focus peels back the pavement between Grand Rapids and Traverse City. Hurtling into the snow heavy northern horizon, she blurs the boney trees and crusted drifts with the momentum of a fierce concentration.<\/p>\n

Dan and Lena Maude met Deb Havens for a quick taste of Om Cafe innovation before zipping over to the Inside Out Gallery. Meredith Barack, reporter for TV 9 and 10 was waiting for us when we arrived. Interviews for the 11 o’clock news commenced while Dan scurried to toss together technology. By 6:35 pm about 25 of the key regional movie makers had arrived, and unaware of the big intro Dan and Rich Brauer had cobbled together, Deb started the program.<\/p>\n

Honestly, it was great. Yes, even though Dan didn’t light Deb’s flip chart, the documenting camera was down for the first 15 minutes of the program… but the internet worked and most crucially – the community SHOWED UP!<\/p>\n

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Ashen, roiling clouds part to the exaltation of an unearthly chorus! A thick shaft of blessed brilliance flashes forth, striking with palpable force the crinkled brow of your humble narrator. Could this be at long last be the galvanizing event for our Northwestern Film Family? Will we finally stand together and kick some metaphorical butt?<\/p>\n

Well, maybe. In any case, I can’t help but feel heartened, encouraged, even relieved. There are players out there more savvy than Dan Kelly. Who am I to promote regional movie making, gather the diverse gang, beg and plead for participation? What about my own projects, why am I diverting energy to poke and prod my peers?<\/p>\n

Ha! Six years working on DOG<\/a> illustrates that real movie makers need teams!\u00a0 M3 is a community disguised as a supremely selfish agenda, which I’ve certainly alluded to ad nauseam. So back to the glorious event, the quickening, the awakening, the near miracle that might have just happened.<\/p>\n

Movie Makers finding each other, yay! Newsworthy…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>http:\/\/www.9and10news.com<\/a><\/p>\n

The following snippets for your consideration.<\/p>\n

Jed Jaworksi and Rich Brauer shared anecdotes of working in Bowers Harbor on Hide Away (formerly a Year in Mooring) with director Chris Eyre, (Smoke Signals) and how local savvy kept the project in the region and enhanced the production.<\/p>\n

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\nHide Away, Director Chris Eyre, 2011<\/p>\n

We checked out the MEDC<\/a> and the Michigan Film Office<\/a> websites and noticed the deplorable lack of metrics to measure the positive economic impact of the film incentives.<\/p>\n

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\n…but the dashboard is empty, we can’t tell whether the incentives are working!<\/a><\/p>\n

March 27 at LIAA has been scheduled as a production planning meeting, the ultimate result being a movie that explains who we are and what we want to legislators with Bill Latka, Aaron Dennis and Morgan Burke-Beyers on point. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n