R. Mattingly opened the meeting with an overview of current legislative action to abolish the Florida BOR. Requested feedback from university participants on how this action would affect the film schools in colleges and Universities.

R. Mattingly reiterated a previous discussion with Committee Chair, Dr. Don U regarding the abolishment of the Florida BOR.

"I think the schools seem to already have set individual goals, and simply have stopped talking to each other. FIFE died because of lack of interest on the part of the schools not the film industry. University instructional programs are jealously guarded and I believe with Paul they need a forum to 'try' to coordinate programs, but I'm not sure that we can facilitate what they need to be doing on our own.

Believe me the schools have the money to meet on their own, but my sense is they may not really want to do that. We may be offering help they do not want. As you know the BOR is gone, and there is a sense that its now every school for itself, and we may not want to risk getting into these murky waters. There are a lot of life rafts in the water right now. And they are looking for life preservers filled with cash grants to help stay afloat.

Training outside the confines of the schools by Florida employers, unions, filmmakers, etc. on the other hand is where we might want to put our efforts. The industry in Florida primarily a 'cottage industry' and it is commercials, industrial films, Hispanic and Anglo television and cable that provide most of the job opportunities in the state. It may be these folks with whom we need work, and learn about what they need and how we can help fund training that leads to hiring.

And most importantly, they (industry) have no interest in dealing with the red tape of state government to do the right thing. They are busy businessmen and have little time to fill out forms or file reports to get a few training dollars. Feature films are just the tip of the iceberg in this state, when it comes to employment opportunities and need for job training. I suggest local company training to hire a new employee is where we might focus our efforts. Job training and schooling are different animals, no matter how much smoke the education bureaucracy blows."

S. Van Wagenen, M. Warren, B. Allen agreed that the elimination of the Board of Regents would provide for greater autonomy and opportunity for the college and university film schools to develop on their own. All saw it as a positive move.

R. Mattingly raised the issue of communication among/between film schools and industry. Questioned if we are at a greater risk of having major communication gaps and do we care? Do we want to try and find a way to bridge that gap and have some kind of a communication forum/format so that we know what everyone is working on?

G. Wolonowicz raised the question what communications sources among/between college and university film schools do we have in place right now?

R. Mattingly stated that there was once a program called FIFE (Florida Institute For Education), which was eliminated last year because it was an under funded program. Lucia Fishburne managed it.

FIFE had a forum for industry and education partners, government and arts industries to come to the table, but part of the breakdown came because we did not have the funding to act on any of the ideas that we came up with. Some of the things we were able to implement were made possible by outside donations.

B. Allen added that FIFE had an initial charter that was a term agreement. It was originally created as a join program with the PEPSI group and the Board of Regents and Industry to say let's have some governance on behalf of the state on what institutions do film schools to make sure they are adequately funded and they all meet a need. This was accomplished, as was the idea of creating a communications forum. The lack of funding for FIFE was an outcome and not a driver. The reason FIFE fell apart was lack of direction, funding and staffing. The people who ran the large film programs in the state and key industry people were some of the people who needed to care about FIFE did not.

S. Van Wagenen stated that there is some value of having an annual forum or meeting of educators.

L. Fishburne stated that she thought that it would be good if the idea of FIFE's once a year meeting among film school presidents/educators, where all of the institutions got together and shared ideas.

R. Mattingly stated that the idea on the table is that the State Film Advisory Council Committee on Education would be the leaders of the proponents of an annual one time a year coming together and sharing of ideas. Further, another suggestion was partnering with all of Florida's film schools to launch an annual trade mission to LA for the recruitment of businesses and productions. The target audience would be Florida film school grads and alum who are in decision-making roles at studios or who have their own production companies. The Miami Dade Film Office and the University of Miami do this every year, as it is a win-win for the industry for business, and a the school for alumni recruitment.

R. Mattingly asked the public participants from S. Florida to comment on the Miami Dade Film Office/U of M initiative. Most were aware of it; however, they were unsure of it's accomplishments/successes.

G. Wolonowicz suggested including Florida Film School graduates on such a mission to help them to find jobs in LA, since that is an industry hub.

S. Van Wagenen asked the question, what is the value media digital, film education, television education in Florida for your economic development in terms of promoting Florida as a place to do digital media work?

R. Mattingly added that there is great value is in showing legislators that growing the digital media sector will heavily rely on having a skilled workforce, hence our participation in the Information Technology Task Force, SubCommittee on eEntertainment. The focus of this committee was essentially to plant into the minds of legislators the importance of digital media technology and the way that it is rapidly changing the traditional film & entertainment industry in the US and in Florida from a workforce perspective, as well as a revenue perspective. Focusing on training and developing our workforce (new entries as well as incumbents) was this committee's recommendation to the Florida Legislature.

M. Warren stated that one way to coordinate this initiative would be to partner with Kodak during their annual educator event, which is in October or September.

L. Fishburne added that is a good time of year to have this event and that way teachers can go back into the classrooms and implement some of these ideas.

M. Warren suggested the kick-off of this initiative at one of the major film festivals in Florida.

J. Ward stated that Marco Island has a student film festival which might be a good tie-in with educators, but it may inconvenient for people geographically.

L. Fishburne cautioned to close a tie-in with students as educators and administrators value the opportunity to network and learn among themselves, especially in regards to professional development and the creation/administration of new/existing degree programs.

S. Van Wagenen stated that this is the kind of event that you would want to move around the state and host annually at a different location rather than attach it to a single event.

R. Mattingly stated that the Governor's Office of Film and Entertainment has a bill in this years legislature that will give the authority for us to utilize a trust fund that is already in existence called the Governor's Grants and Donations Fund. The bill will allow the Film Commission & Advisory Council to solicit funds from federal, state, local or private sources for Film Commission initiatives and programs.

M. Warren will provide to R. Mattingly the information on the annual teacher event, which is sponsored by Kodak as a possible partner. M. Warren also indicated that Fuji Film is interested in sponsoring an film educator-focused event as well.

L. Fishburne stated that the opportunity to information sharing, recruitment, and networking would be most valuable to educators and administrators of film schools and programs at every level - high school to university.

M. Warren stated that from a college standpoint, knowing what other film schools are doing (i.e. new degree programs) would aid in eliminating duplicity of programs/degrees.

S. Van Wagenen added that a great thing that we could do with this initiative would be to offer specific teaching and training for teachers and administrators - professional development if you will.

R. Mattingly list the deliverables as: networking, recruitment, information sharing, industry partnerships, professional development and legislative issues.

B. Allen stated that L. Fishburne should give the Film Commission the FIFE framework, as much work has already gone into to develop this same idea.

R. Mattingly stated that we would get all of the FIFE information for L. Fishburne. We will bring all of these ideas to the full body of the Florida Film Advisory Council as an issue for discussion and possible action.

L. Fishburne provided an overview and update of Workforce Florida, Inc. - it is more a policy and incentives unit that consists of private industry, governmental representatives, labor union representatives that provide oversight to regional workforce boards and developing policy for the state with regard to workforce development.

L. Fishburne specifically oversees the Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWT), which offers incentives for businesses to train and develop their incumbent (existing) workers. To date, not one film and entertainment industry company has applied for the IWT, which is program that is ready and available for workforce training right now.

R. Mattingly stated that minutes from this meeting, as well as the action item of supporting an annual meeting/conference of film industry educators and administrators (with industry participation) would be brought before the full FFAC during their next meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for June 7, 2001 in Orlando. Specific location is TBD.

Motion was made & seconded for adjournment.

Meeting Adjourned at 10:30 am.