M3 and beyond

M3 just had our fifth M33M. This summer will mark our third anniversary. High time for a check up, perhaps as a precursor to a meeting of the M3 Core, Supreme Soviet, Founding Mothers, Star Chamber, aka those who bother to show up.

Here’s a brief outline of what’s in this post.

• Why my career advancement is linked to group development. How about you?
• What Dan Kelly can sustainably contribute moving ahead and a summary of all of M3’s proven assets.
• Core meeting at the Parson’s Center in Lake Ann (party)

Career advancement and group development

When I considered coming back to Northern Michigan in 2010, the presence of other movie makers was encouraging – the availability of local talent made ambitious and virtuosic projects feasible. Starting Michigan Movie Makers was my way of getting to know who was around and what they were into, to identify compatible playmates before launching my next projects.

My idea of artistic success is having 1) ecstatic challenges, 2) creative control in meeting them and 3) enough income to keep the hard drives spinning. With movie making, I’ve learned that going solo is only for supra-genius Tesla types (remember how he ended up) or rank amateurs. The ability to join or form cohesive crews is essential to success.

So my investment in M3 is totally selfish, I must cultivate radiant collaborators. When I am updating the blog or organizing M33M late at night, (like tonight) selfishness keeps me going.

Even if you’re not into fortunate alliances in support of virtuosic projects, coming together as a community is good for lots of other reasons. We can teach each other, establish shareable resources, advocate for common agendas, have drinking contests, invent secret handshakes…

I’m out of the closet about what I want, what good is M3 to you? What should WE do?

Let’s begin with what we have been/are doing. Behold this inventory of M3’s assets, starting with me.

M3 Proven Assets

For 2013, Dan Kelly is committed to 1) organizing/hosting a total of 4 monthly meetings annually including 2 regular meetings and 2 Micro Movie Marathons, 2) promoting his meetings via the blog/facebook/twitter + email blasts and 3) through Trickster Pictures, contributing ~$400 annually to M3 for expenses like rent, promotion and snacks. Trickster also provides server space for MichiganMovieMakers.com.

Having already organized M33M in January,  Dan will host Carol Evans in February, another M33M in July and one more meeting TBA.

The WordPress blog at Michiganmoviemakers.com features automatic publication of posts to Twitter and Facebook. M3 maintains an email list with about 170 contacts.

Scott Tompkins has extended our reach by organizing a 3rd annual M33M for Bioneers in October, which is a cool alliance. He also heads the Career Tech Center’s Film and New Media program, which has brought a lot of new blood into our group and provides interns for regional media initiatives. Scott was helping to defray expenses by passing the hat at meetings, but that didn’t persist. We’ll address revenue again later.

Joe Carter actively updates the blog with related events. He has agreed to be the second phone contact replacing James Weston Schaberg who is out west for the foreseeable. Joe’s affiliation with the UpNorth Media Center means we’re tightly informed about what’s happening in community media and hooked into UpNorth’s production resources. We’ve also used the LIAA facilities for meetings.

Mike Matthews is often around to help set-up and break down the meeting space. M’Lynn Hartwell, Lena Maude Wilson, Patrick Kelly and Cody Stowe are often available for roadie action.

Rebecca Glofelty, Jeffrey Morgan, Jeff Gibbs, David Marek, Aaron Dennis and Andrea Maio have all headlined meetings and likely would again. Steve Julin, organizer of Postapalooza has also offered to bring workshops and events to us.

Until recently, Mike Curths was giving us a great deal on the theater space at Inside Out Gallery, but he can’t afford to continue. We’re now looking at $100/meeting for the theater – which still makes sense for higher profile events, like M33M. We’ve also invested in the theater infrastructure (long projector and audio cables) which could come with us if we left IO and had to equip another venue.

Since our inception, the TCFF has asked us to host a party for the visiting filmmakers. Local restaurants and caterers support this event and Andy McFarlane has brought in regional wineries and poured too.

Lesley Tye is our principle at the Interlochen Arts Academy. Her schedule prevents regular attendance on Wednesday evenings, but she checks in with Dan and encourages her students to enter work in M33M. Interlochen student Mida Chu won a Major Award at 2013 Winter.

Since the news about IO rent increase, several M3 stalwarts have offered to make cash contributions. Though we don’t have an organization, it’s probably feasible to implement standard annual donations for membership, perhaps $20 for students, $50 for individuals and $200 for companies. It’s likely that most of us could afford this and would be more reliable than passing the hat. An acting treasurer could set up a DBA and a bank account if we took in more than $1000.

We’ve had multiple M33M entries from about 100 different regional artists. Folks have opined that M33M has provided motivation to finish and/or showcase their work. The regional production pot has certainly been stirred a little by M33M.

There might be other people and contributions that didn’t make this list, log on and add your 2 cents. Otherwise, that’s the overview of our assets.

Core Meeting

What’s most important to notice about this inventory is the reduction in Dan Kelly’s investment. We don’t really want me to BE M3.  Handling 4 meetings a year, posting the occasional quirky observation, and generally oozing charisma – enough!  We have so many talented folks that filling the rest of the slots with inspiring content should be a breeze. Step up peeps! More than meetings, what other initiatives do we want?

Andrea Maio has offered the Parsons Center in Lake Ann for an M3 core meeting. We can establish a schedule for the entire year, talk about new initiatives, decide what form the TCFF volunteer rebellion will take while enjoying steaming stacks of my to die for vegan and wheat free pancakes. Uh, party… What say you, core folk?