By Dominic Arthur, Staff Reporter.
Jenell Leonard, director of the Michigan Film and Digital Media Office, visited Delta College on Thursday, Dec. 3, to discuss the Electronic Media (EM) program and its two-year film track. She was brought in by Jeff Vande Zande, English instructor, to view short films produced by students in the program, and to see what it has to offer.
“We’re seeing all of these trends of the creative economy growing in Michigan, and there’s really no voice for them,” Leonard says. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be broadening our scope to include more of these into our efforts.”
Leonard says she loves to see student filmmakers passionate about what they’re doing and she hopes to see them stay and thrive in Michigan.
“Many times, as you guys can see with independent film, it’s contracted, it’s freelance work. We have a lot of millennials that are working out of coffee shops and their basements, still doing great work and creating quality products, but it’s different than a 9-5 job on the line,” says Leonard.
Signed in April 2008, by then governor Jennifer Granholm, the film tax incentives were refundable and transferable tax incentives that focused on film, television and digital media production in the state. Since its demise in July of this year, the Michigan Film Office is rebranding itself, but will continue to include film with hopes to sustain the industry. The office, according to Leonard, is looking to expand into other industries like marketing/advertising, broadcasting, interactive web-series, mobile applications and gaming design.
EM Film student, Brian Mohr, believes the local film community is beginning to flourish because of independent film events like Hell’s Half Mile and Delta’s film program, stating, “If I have the money, I’ll come back for [the film degree].”
Hell’s Half Mile Director, Alan LaFave, says the task at hand is finding people within the Tri-Cities that are filmmakers to create a community where ideas and projects can be shared.
“We need collaboration. We need people to say, ‘Yeah, I’ve got a project I’d love to do, but you’re starting your project first. I’d love to help you, and then you can help me with mine.’ It’s about moving from one project to the next. It’s all about people helping each other with their projects.”
LaFave says Delta’s new film track is a great addition to the college as it provides the opportunity for student filmmakers to collaborate with one another and potentially move forward in their careers.
“I think it’s a big step forward,” LaFave says. “It’s an opportunity for more people to see it as a legitimate career path. It’s coming out of the certificate and into a degree. That’s pretty major!”
At the presentation, President Goodnow sought out grant opportunities from the Film Office to continue to drive student filmmakers in the direction they want to go. The college doesn’t have a lot of resources to support equipment or opportunities to attract additional students, and to keep supporting them once they’re in the curriculum.
“We do need to support the homegrown team here. We have to do everything to elevate that,” Leonard says. “With the incentive going away, right now, it’s very sensitive to talk about having funding or grant programs through our office. As we’re rebranding and refocusing and broadening our scope to include more creative industries, what we’re trying to do with this effort is to sustain it, and get rid of the drama, so that people can see there’s some depth here.”
Leonard believes that it’s not just about Hollywood coming in. She says grant programs in the future aren’t ruled out, but right now their focus is to recreate themselves and move forward as an office and into other creative industries, while ending the negativity that the destruction of the film incentives left behind.
“We want to grow this industry and sustain it, regardless of what happened with the incentives. We are here to help the creative industry as a whole.”
