I

Special Report

ON THE ,OVER

Silver Screen Opportunity

Center for Film Studies partners

•

Jack Grushko, chief operating offi-

cer; Kim Havaraneck, director of

education; and Mort Meisner, presi-

dent and executive director

Jewish entrepreneurs
propel jobs in Michigan
moviemaking.

STAFF PHOTOS BY ANGIE BAAN
LIGHTING BY MARK PRESTON, FARMINGTON HILLS

Bryan Gottlieb
Special to the Jewish News

W

ith Michigan's changing
economy in full-throttle,
tax incentives put in place
nearly two years ago to lure more film
production to the state have exposed the
Achilles' heel of the restructuring effort:
A lack of well-qualified local labor able to
perform the work.
Michigan was not known — until
recently — as a hotbed of production.
This year's estimates are that nearly

four-dozen major motion pictures will
be filmed in Detroit and throughout the
state; up from just a handful before the
incentives were enacted.
Without locals to handle the "below-
the-line" work associated with film
and television production —grips,
makeup artists, gaffers, set construc-
tors and others — studios have been
forced to fly crews to the state, depriving
Michiganians of much-wanted jobs.
"The best estimates are that within
the next five years, between 20,000 and

Silver Screen on page Al2

Marh 12 • 2009

All