Executive Summary
Definitions
Movie – Any mediated experience, whether linear (motion picture, video, film) or interactive (training, games), enabled by diverse people collaborating.
Movie maker – Anyone dedicating a significant percentage of activity to movie development, funding, creation or distribution.
High value project – A movie project of any genre or length that fairly compensates movie makers, is environmentally and ethically responsible and enhances the regional economy overall.
Movie industry – Having enough high value projects to keep our region’s movie makers busy full-time, year round.
Mission Statement
Michigan Movie Makers (M3) builds and sustains a thriving movie industry by facilitating enough high value projects to keep regional movie makers busy full time, invigorating the arts, natural environment and economy of Northwestern Michigan.
Company Information
Since the spring of 2011, M3 meetings and events have explored the vital diversity of regional movie makers and demonstrated how our common passion is tremendously beneficial to the wider community.
M3 started as a loose affiliation without dues, corporate structure or fixed roles. This informal management style was appropriate for people with movies in production and related obligations. Gradually, through regular meetings and collaboration, our mission and objectives emerged. M3 is now ready to form an LLC, raise funds, hire full-time staff, implement our business plan and with consistent and dedicated effort, establish a thriving regional movie industry.
Dan Kelly (Trickster Pictures) – social media editor / coordinator
Joe Carter – community outreach coordinator
Morgan Burke Beyers – (Up North TV) vision, volunteer coordinator
Scott Tompkins (Career Tech Center Film and New Media) – academic liaison
Jeff Gibbs – conscience, vision, reality check
The roster of M3’s founding core advisors include James Weston Schaberg, (Weston Films), Dave Marek (Treefort Collective), Naomi Javor (student), Jeff Morgan, (Prometheus Motion Pictures) Andrea Claire Maio (Apiary Projects), Mike Matthews, Lesley Tye (Interlochen Arts Academy), Jed Jaworski, M’Lynn Hartwell (Utopian Empire) and Richard Brauer (Brauer Productions).
Growth Highlights
Along with monthly meetings, M3 maintains a relevant blog of regional movie news (michiganmoviemakers.com), has hosted 6 short film festivals to inventory and recognize regional achievements, assessed the effectiveness of the Michigan Film Incentive and met with legislators, organized 2 collaborative production events, contributed significant volunteer resources to the Traverse City Film Festival and other regional events and mentored students in area high schools. Our opt in email list has grown from 30 to over 200 subscribers. New roles include,
Mark Eiden (45 Parallel Productions) – investor liaison
Krystn Madrine – journalist at large
Core advisors now include Aaron Dennis (Stone Hut Studios), Bill Latka (Rivet Entertainment), Jake Burgess, Matthew Dayton (Tree Fort Collective), Justin Warnes, Cathleen Muncey and Michael Toms.
Products / Services
Although M3’s industry building research is far from finished, our proven activities fall into 5 categories; 1) gather and connect movie makers to each other, 2) foster collaboration, 3) showcase achievement, 4) continually improve our work through professional development, peer / audience feedback and mentoring 5) take inventory of / simplify access to talent and resources.
Monthly meetings – Movie making is collaborative. The intense effort required during production forms tight bonds among actors and crew, so the simple ritual of getting together each month is profoundly stimulating and encouraging to movie makers. Beyond socializing, meetings offer an opportunity to share news about project opportunities, facilitate professional development and recognize achievement. Average meeting attendance is 25, rotating through a roster of 100+ participating movie makers from 5 counties.
Blog – posts to michiganmoviemakers.com are pushed to social media connections (Facebook, Twitter) and forwarded to an opt in email list (Mailchimp). Weekly postings keep M3 engaged between meetings.
Anyone with relevant info can post and because movie making spans diverse disciplines, many events are relevant to movie makers, eg theater performance, music concerts, writing workshops, visual arts exhibits, casting calls, post-production conferences, photography classes, location tours…
Public access events – All M3 meetings are open to the public, but each year several special events are heavily promoted with press releases and news coverage.
Micro Movie Marathon (M33M) is a festival of 3 minute or shorter movies, featuring audience choice Major Awards. M33M is a method of taking a bi-annual inventory of who’s doing what in the region. M33M also provides feedback to movie makers, recognizes excellence and helps the general public connect with the concept of a regional movie industry.
SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities) was facilitated by Deb Havens, Founding Chair of the West Michigan Film and Video Alliance. Her interactive presentation helped M3 to understand the legislative angle on movie making in the state of Michigan. SWOT triggered face to face meetings with regional legislators and an ambitious interview project.
Open Studio – The first M3 Open Studio was hosted by 45 Parallel Production’s Mark Eiden, stunt and SFX professional. 20 movie makers worked 6 hours in snowy below freezing conditions on several scenes for Mark’s action thriller “Fork”. The event featured blank pistol and machine gun firing, a zip line stunt, bullet hits and a grenade explosion. Mark is a certified pyrotechnics expert and armorer, and safety protocols were strictly enforced.
Open Studios enable M3 to check out the equipment and expertise of our peers and get experience working together. They are also a great opportunity for professional development and getting the general public involved.
Community assistance – M3 has provided free and low cost documentation and technical assistance to many community events including the Traverse City Film Festival, the Comedy Festival, Move to Amend Northern Michigan, Elberta Solstice Festival and the Traverse Symphony Orchestra. Our combined in-kind contributions since 2011 easily approach $100k, a clear win for the community overall.
Legislative outreach – As discussed in SWOT, M3 has started an initiative to work with legislators for movie friendly policy in the state and region. This includes not only meetings with legislators but also the production of Building an Industry, a series of mini documentaries on the movie industry in the region and Michigan.
Summary of future plans
If a significant percentage of a person’s activity is about making movies, they are a movie maker. The iconic roles are actor, director, cinematographer and producer. Other roles include lighting director, gaffer, script supervisor, prop manager, makeup artist, set designer, sound recordist, dolly operator, stylist, stunt coordinator… For a large production, a complete list would take paragraphs, with each position representing a unique set of skills and responsibilities. For brevity’s sake, everyone directly involved in production could be lumped into the category ‘cast and crew’ likewise anyone doing pre and post production including writers, editors, animators, prop fabricators, and even less esoteric experts like carpenters, electricians and caterers.
If a caterer feeds productions 4 weeks a year, that’s 10% of her annual income. She could consider herself a movie maker. If movie makers are coming to our region from elsewhere, then folks providing hospitality, car rental and other essential support services get involved – doctors, bankers even delivery drivers.
Many people in our region could become movie makers.
Producer Bill Latka defines a movie industry as having enough high value projects to keep our region’s movie makers busy full-time. What makes a movie industry different from other industries is that there can never be an over population of competent movie makers because there can never be too many good movies.
Consider the construction industry. There is a finite number of houses that need to be built or renovated at any given time and thus a limited amount of work available for carpenters, plumbers and electricians. If there are too many carpenters, plumbers and electricians in a region there won’t be enough work to keep them all busy, regardless of how qualified or competent they are. In contrast, movies aren’t things. Unlike houses, movies are ephemeral – only the ideas and emotions they trigger persist.
Movie projects often need construction services to build sets and props, but those are incidental to the primary outcome and deconstruction is usually implied. With proper planning, sets and props are reused/recycled for the next movie project. Ironically, because movie making isn’t about ‘things’, a thriving movie industry means an automatic boost to many other industries.
Keeping movie makers busy means an abundance of high value projects which can originate in the region or be brought from elsewhere.
An abundance of high value projects would result from M3 consolidating current activities and launching new initiatives. Current activities include 1) monthly meetings and events that bring movie makers together and facilitate collaboration and 2) taking inventory and providing easy access to regional production resources, locations and talent. New initiatives include 1) enhancing regional movie makers’ storytelling competence, technical savvy and aesthetic range 2) drafting best practices for movie making in the region, specifically fair compensation, environmental guidelines and ethical investment 3) attracting projects from elsewhere with a full-time M3 presence showcasing all of the above, the equivalent of a regional film office.
Company Description
Marketplace needs
Movie making has tremendous benefits for communities. Northwestern Michigan does not have enough high value projects to keep our regional movie makers busy full time, year round. By facilitating abundant high value projects originating in the region and coming from elsewhere, M3 invigorates the arts, natural environment and economy of Northwestern Michigan.
Fulfilling needs
Movie making is collaborative and encompasses all artistic disciplines – acting, visual arts, design, writing, sculpture, dance and music. Abundant high value projects means more work for artists of every stripe. Keeping movie makers busy would be a boon for the arts in our region.
With proper planning and best practices, movie’s can be made with low environmental impact. Movies that showcase regional locations create a compelling economic reason to protect our phenomenal natural resources. Documentary movie makers inform the public about potential threats to the regional environment that might otherwise be overlooked. M3 establishes stewardship criteria for high value projects, resulting in the preservation of wild spaces and protection of the natural environment.
Movie making generates new work for existing industries. If good movies can always find an audience, then the market for good movies can never be saturated. Abundant high value projects represent an unlimited source of wide spectrum economic activity for the region.
Who we serve
M3 benefits anyone who dedicates a significant percentage of activity getting movies developed, financed, created or distributed. If more movies means more movie makers, that is, if other industries begin to make a significant percentage of revenue supporting movie making, then those industries become part of the movie industry. M3’s encouraging influence will certainly benefit people who have a significant percentage of movie making activity. If many or even most businesses can be integrated into the movie industry, then a wide spectrum of working people will benefit and the overall economic boost will be enjoyed by everyone in our region.
Competitive advantage
Our people
Because M3 started as an opportunity for getting together and collaboration, our roster includes the most ambitious and long standing movie makers in the region. There is no other organization in the region with the vision, expertise and motivation to build a movie industry, because our people are the core who comprise that emerging industry.
Good will
M3’s track record of contribution, accomplishment and advocacy in the community – without a legal structure or budget – illustrates our enthusiasm, organization and ability to problem solve. Considering these traits are common to all competent movie makers, M3’s achievement as an informal group should be no surprise and hints at the powerful positive influence M3 will have.
Strategic Alliances
M3 is integrated into other movie groups in the state including the West Michigan Film and Video Alliance, our closest neighbor. Key regional media and academic institutions are represented in M3 including Interlochen Arts Academy, Career Tech Center, LIAA Up North TV and Northwestern Michigan College.
Inclusive
M3 emphasizes collaboration over competition, because an abundance of projects means all competent movie makers can be busy full time, year round – no one will miss out.
Assets
The domains MichiganMovieMakers (.com .org .net .biz .info .us) are being maintained by Trickster Pictures. Ownership will be transferred to M3 when an LLC is formed.
Branding
Movie making is constantly transformed by new technology. Our name, Michigan Movie Makers, is designed to be relevant regardless of technological change and shifting paradigms.
Geography and human experience endure. The word ‘movie’ will likely remain relevant in the future as it refers to an experience (moving pictures) and not an enabling technology. M3 is stretching the definition of movie to include linear and interactive experience because in creation and delivery both are collaborations. Working and playing together will likely continue to be important to people, regardless of the technology we use.
Why has M3 chosen the word ‘movie’ and not ‘film’, doesn’t film carry greater cachet? In the last half of the 20th century two rival movie capturing technologies were extant – celluloid film and video tape. Film achieved a better image and was expensive, video was more immediate and comparatively cheaper, making it more accessible. Film screened in theaters, video on television. Because film implied money, quality and a bigger screen, it was associated with the artistic elite.
Both technologies are out of vogue. Sound and movement are nowadays captured as dense sequences of values on thin wafers of silicon and aluminum – digital. What’s next – nano capturing, amino capturing? If Moores law holds, technology will continue to advance. Whether the word ‘filmmaker’ continues to ooze prestige or passes completely out of use is anyone’s guess. The word ‘movie’ may not have historical cachet but is firmly established in common parlance and will likely remain relevant as the 20th century recedes. No matter how sound and motion are captured, movies will always move.
M3’s name is intended to unify and inspire over the long term, informed by the past and attentive to the future.
Market Analysis
Metrics – how will achievement of mission statement be measured?
Hey Cat, thanks for responding!
On Feb 16, 2014, at 9:43 AM, Cat Muncey via email wrote:
– Cat Muncey –
I read over the plan and have some thoughts…
-I don’t understand how m3 will build recurring income for its infrastructure…it seems like there is the want for startup money, but I don’t understand how money is made by this plan.
– Dan Kelly –
Good question. Operating costs = $70k annually. Do profitable studios and movie makers give back a percentage of their income from high value projects facilitated by M3? Are we fundraising constantly in the wider community? Do we attempt to create an endowment to fund staff? Can the state contribute? Will the increased income to the regional business community be recognized? How do YOU think it could work?
– Cat Muncey –
-Is there any interest in making m3 into a non profit? It would take time, however the pay out is big…no taxes and ample grant opps…could be great if you have a tried and true grant writer
– Dan Kelly –
IRS more rigorous about non profit status, takes a long time. Easier for now just to partner with an existing non profit. For profit LLC allows us to be politically active, encourage film friendly policies. We can start looking for funds as soon as we have a viable plan.
Again as above, please don’t say you, M3 is an us – or it’s nothing. I am as busy as everyone else, the reason I make time to facilitate M3 is because a strong cohesive group of like minded, competent people could help me realize my own projects. True for you?
– Cat Muncey –
-kudos to you for your continued growth of m3!!! Here’s to many more years of bringing filmmakers together!!!
– Dan Kelly –
whoop!
– Cat Muncey –
-I wish I weren’t as time starved as I am and I could put more thoughts around this. I read one of your emails from awhile back but didn’t reply that I read it because I knew I didn’t have time to give at the moment. 🙁
– Dan Kelly –
ok, but re-read M3 is an us…
On Feb 16, 2014, at 10:52 AM, Mark Eiden via email wrote:
– J. Mark Eiden –
I just have one thought to add. A movie maker could derive great benefit from an M3 affiliation as far as project funding goes. The holly grail for most of us, I figure, is getting funded on our projects in order to employ necessary crew/cast and pay them fair compensation. As M3 develops into a recognizable and relevant industry icon, those with the bucks would be more likely to invest, especially with the adherence to professional and reliable standards.
– Dan Kelly –
So emphasize access to funding through involvement in M3, yes?
– J. Mark Eiden –
Yes. I’m thinking funding could come directly or indirectly from affiliation. If a potential investor sees M3 as a vital and relevant organization, they could realize the affiliated movie maker as a good bet. An M3 accreditation could possibly put a proverbial stamp of approval on the movie maker or project. Maybe there is a way we could qualify projects as does the sister organizations. Folks like Rich and Jeff, with the serious experience, could assist in the process if willing. Just a thought.
– Dan Kelly –
mmm, accreditation – that’s an angle I hadn’t considered. Could come from workshopping the project concept with other M3 folks, which works with Jeff’s emphasis on bringing up our game through feedback. Great idea, keep ’em coming.
On Feb 21, 2014, at 1:53 PM, David Marek via email wrote:
– David Marek –
Wow! this looks great – its very thorough and hits on a ton of really smart points. My only surface criticism would be that there is some redundancy (particularly with how other industries become part of film industry) but in this type of document, I think it is well warranted and works just fine.
It certainly is impressive when all laid out like this!
On Feb 23, 2014, at 7:36 PM, Scott Tompkins via email wrote:
– Scott Tompkins –
The M3 plan looks well crafted and deliberated… I have similar wonders about the sources of $$$ for the initial M3 thrust for staff, etc…Is there a possibility of state $ through the film Office or some Economic Development pot’o’gold?
– Dan Kelly –
See the comments on the blog at the bottom of the post I emailed, Cat asked the same question. I don’t know exactly, that’s what the next sections of the business plan will address. Think about this. If, after much research and careful consideration, you KNEW that spending $100 on some honest ethical venture would net $1000, would you spend that $100? This is the point of the business plan. When we make the case clearly and irrefutably that the community at large can profit from the investment in M3, funding will not be hard to find.
– Scott Tompkins –
The possibilites for M3/education are pretty boundless I’d say… seems like a perfect fit for CTC, Interlochen, Local TCAPS high School kids, NMC, Up North Media, etc for internships, old school apprenticeships, Co-op, internships, etc… M3 could broker these slots as ancillary crew/cast for local projects, giving the paid spots priority…also could revive some of the conversations about formalized Apple training for FCP/Adobe products through CTC, NMC, Up North Media….. I’m always ready and willing to get these initiatives rolling, Dano…\
– Dan Kelly –
Absolutely. Those initiatives require more organization (and clout) than we currently have. I think the trickiest bit for us is to prioritize our future efforts, what must we do first, and why. Facilitating high value projects local and otherwise, needs to be our first concern. Education/apprentice/intern tie ins are automatic.
– Scott Tompkins –
The only scenario that would be a red flag at some point could be potential political lobbying of some nature in the pursuit of a cause/effort that would directly have students engaged in any obvious demonstration/protest in the context of their involvement through M3 actions…I personally don’t give rip about such involvement/engagement, but, the TBAISD brass might be sensitive to it…
– Dan Kelly –
I can’t really imagine a scenario where we’d call out our members for a compulsory demonstration. I do see more advocacy and outreach like the video we started last March, meetings with legislators, etc. Students could be involved if they wanted to. What brought this up, any specific wording in the business plan?
– Scott Tompkins –
Over all, bravo… what’s the next step… a general concensus of yeah let’s do this?
– Dan Kelly –
The next step is to get more feedback from the M3 Core on what’s currently written – solid internal consensus. This has to be OUR plan, not Dan’s plan. Then more details about how we realize our objectives, fleshing out the remaining sections of the business plan. Broadening our feedback loop beyond the Core, involve folks outside M3 who are natural allies.