The

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Silver Screen from page A13

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A14

Marh 12 • 2009

Schram PC in Bloomfield Hills. "I
think the business could increase to a
billion-dollar-a-year industry within
a few years as long as the incentives
stay in place and the infrastructure
is built?'
Hertz, a towering figure in enter-
tainment legal circles, represents
many industry luminaries as well
as Wayne County and its director of
film incentives. He is in negotiations
with several film projects to provide
legal services.
"Michigan has such diversity in
locations ... urban, beach and rural
spots that are perfect for films," he
said. "We also have acting talent and
a rich history of musical talent. Once
people come here to film, I believe
they'll be back again and again, and
tell their friends?'
In her State of the State address
on Feb. 3, Gov. Jennifer Granholm
announced the creation of three film
and production studios that have the
potential to create thousands of new
jobs in southeast Michigan.
One is an $86 million digital ani-
mation and visual effects studio that
will set up shop in the former MGM
Grand Casino in downtown Detroit
and open by the end of 2009. Another
is a $54 million film production
studio to be built at General Motors
Corp.'s former Centerpoint plant in
Pontiac, called the Motown Motion
Picture Studio.
It has the financial backing of real
estate mogul A. Alfred Taubman of
Bloomfield Hills and local developer
Linden Nelson of Birmingham. The
third project has still not been offi-
cially announced.
Jeff Spilman, a principal at S3
Entertainment Group, a media
company based in Ferndale, says
his company's production work has
increased dramatically since the
incentives were passed.
"In the months since the incentives
were passed in 2007, nearly 20 proj-
ects completed filming in Michigan:'
he said. "Prior to the incentives, the
state might have had 14 days of pro-
duction."
Spilman and his partners also
foresaw the issue of qualified workers
and have launched their own train-
ing center, called the Film Industry
Training Program, in conjunction
with Oakland Community College.
"Michigan has a lot of uniquely
qualified individuals to work in the
film industry:' Spilman said. "With
the increase in filming, though, there
are more jobs than people to fill

Jeff Spilman: a media company
principal

them. The need for an educated crew
base that is ready to work and quali-
fied is immediate?'

Workforce Recalibration
Those interviewed expressed the
same concerns about making
Michigan's workers attractive to the
film studios as well as creating jobs
to buttress the floundering local
economy.
As manufacturing and other tra-
ditional employment opportunities
continue to decline, training for the
multitude of jobs that Michigan's film
industry promises to deliver will have
a direct impact on its successful root-
ing here.
"Now is our time to educate our
young people, to create human infra-
structure to support a new industry
for our state and give them the skill
sets to be successful, and establish
Michigan as a premiere creative
economy;' Spilman said. "We need
to create industry and opportunity
in order to retain and employ our
citizens?'
For their part, Meisner and
Grushko emphasize their desire to
stem the brain drain from Detroit
to other parts of the country by
utilizing the influx of work from
Hollywood.
"It's about keeping our young
people here and making sure they are
employable Meisner said. "Jack and
I love Detroit, and we created CFS to
make it possible for all the talented
people here to learn what the studios
are looking for, so people can stay
in Michigan and help rebuild our
economy. >> —