FLORIDA FILM & ENTERTAINMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL
4th Quarter Meeting Minutes
December 2, 2003
The Breakers Hotel-West Palm Beach, Fl
The fourth quarter meeting for the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council was called to order on December 2, 2003 at 2:15 pm in the Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida.
MEMBERS PRESENT MEMBERS NOT PRESENT
Hollis Batchelor – Chairman Ron Castell
Lew Klechak – Vice Chairman Frank (Bud) Nocera (excused)
Jasper (Jay) Ballance Jorge Hane (excused)
Leslie Bartlett Sterling Van Wagenen (excused)
Daphne Boyd Lorraine Wood (excused)
Arlene Herson
Kathryn Waters
John Welch
Rebecca O’Dell Townsend
Todd Roobin
Paul Meena
Pat Keating
Susan Albershardt
Marty Wilson
Lucia Fishburne
OFFICE OF FILM & ENTERTAINMENT
Susan Simms
Niki Christopher
Introductions of new committee members.
Discussion follows regarding maintaining current Chair (Hollis Batchelor) and Vice Chair (Lew Klechak) in positions until June of 2004.
Katie Waters makes a motion to accept.
Daphne Boyd seconds the motion
Leslie Ann Bartlet makes a motion to make election retroactive to last July
Rebecca Townsend seconds the motion
Minutes were corrected and approved.
Todd Roobin makes a motion to approve the minutes.
Arlene Herson seconds the motion.
Minutes were approved.
Susan Albershardt states that the DBPR created draft legislation that will be introduced in the next session. They will be changing the way the laws are interpreted as far as unfair trade practices. It addresses most of what Katie had requested. Maybe not at the limits she requested, as far as the bond. Says the legislation will deregulate talent agents. They will have to regulate themselves in that, when somebody goes to a talent agent and the talent agent wants them to sign a contract, there are certain things that have to be spelled out. They will also have to provide a copy of their criminal background that is less than twelve months old. And they will have to give the talent a copy of their bond. Talent agents will be responsible for letting the talent know that they comply with these new laws. . If the Talent Agents do not comply with these new laws, there are second and third degree felonies that they face. The DBPR also created legislation that will govern the advanced fee talent services. Still waiting to see what the next draft will look like, but she thinks that is really close.
Discussion follows regarding when the advisory council will see a draft, what will happen if changes need to be made, and how the advisory council will support it.
Susan Albershardt states that the new legislation for the exemption says that all makeup artists and cosmetologists are exempt from being licensed on motion and television sets. It is a very broad exemption and will be sponsored in both the house and senate.
Susan Albershardt states that two officers at OTTED and Paul Meena have given notes so far. She will ask an entertainment attorney to review the documents after she receives the advisory council’s notes. When funding for the incentive is passed the application will get posted on the filminflorida website. She does not want to post it before the Governor signs the bill because she does not want anyone to think that we will service them before it is passed. Once that is done, there will be a press release stating that if anyone wants to apply for this they can download it, fill it out and submit it.
The council offers notes on revisions and changes to the document.
Discussion follows on the process for accepting an application and making sure it is complete.
Discussion follows on the contract that will incorporate the information in the Application.
Discussion follows on how and when a relocation company will get their incentive money, lose the money and how to reallocate the funds.
Discussion follows regarding documentation to show their gross revenues. Does it need to be spelled out?
Susan Albershardt states that the first page has the dates and numbers that will be tracked by OTTED and the OFE. OTTED certifies the amount and keeps the checkbook.
Katie Waters asks if a project is ready but the funds aren’t available for them to get the total incentive they qualify for, can they pull out and be in front for next year? Susan Albershardt believes that we can make that happen.
Paul Meena asks can they take half from one fiscal year and the rest from the next fiscal year. Discussion follows with consensus that they can’t.
Susan Albershardt states that OTTED told her that invoices should be submitted monthly and they will start getting paid monthly. They can start to get reimbursed after they pass the $850,000 mark.
Discussion follows regarding due diligence questions and who is the applicant.
Marty Wilson and Lucia Fishburne suggest adding to one of the cover pages, (1) this is an inducement and (2), this is discretionary.
Suggestion is made to plug in Rebecca and Jasper to help with the contract. Hollis Batchelor says he will make them a committee.
Lucia Fishburne gives the report and states that Susan, Andra Cornelius, the VP of Business Outreach for Workforce Florida, and Lucia thought it would be good if Workforce Florida could help with the industry. Our funding is related to training, for workforce development. We want to address the competitiveness of the workforce within the industry; we are looking to OFE to identify what those needs might be. What training and continuing education needs there might be. We are willing to allocate $250,000 to fund a training initiative for the industry. A one-time thing, a demo. If it is successful we might be able to fund more projects.. We are going to try to create a model that will get valuable training out there. Training that will be delivered in an acceptable manner for our industry. We will be frugal and install safeguards; we might need to partner with others. Need to identify the priority areas and it will be our job to guide the thing as we develop it. We do have to have some amount of data because the funds we use are federal dollars; we’ll need an ROI and check social security numbers.
Susan Albershardt states that she introduced the program at the Film Florida meeting and a committee was assigned, which includes Steve Lasky, Chuck Elderd, Dave Goodman. We are going to finesse this program so it will, train our people on cutting edge technology as well as business practices. She will get feedback and work with companies and colleges, to attract attention to what they have to offer. It will fit with our Media Arts Mentoring Program, which is targeted at HS students. Will fit perfectly because one is for teenage students and one for those already in our industry. This is a wonderful opportunity for the State of Florida, an opportunity to bring in some award wining professionals. We will hold sessions in Miami, Orlando, Northern Florida, all over the state. Will have three series: post production, production, and pre production. It will be a three-day series. In the end people will get a certificate of completion. Teachers will receive an honorarium for their time and travel.
Susan Albershardt states that the OFE is bringing media arts to high risk/ low-income high schools. It rolls out in January at Godby HS. The program will be once a week for an entire semester. There should be 16-20 students. Dean Frank Patterson has made the curriculum, and Geroge Fernandez will be the hands on instructor. George will be at every class and introduce the mentors to the students. A different mentor will teach every week. We have been working with Liza McFadden the Governor’s mentoring director. This will be our pilot program, in the fall we will try to roll it out statewide. The students will be taught about the film making process and will create a PSA.
Susan Albershardt presents the first quarter NAICS code statistics. If you multiply by four it is trending just as it was the previous year. We’ll have five films shooting in January, one is a series. North Florida, the Gulf Coast, and South Florida, and possibly Central Florida
Susan Albershardt shows council artwork for the new Film In Florida ad campaign that will be inserted in creative directories, magazines. Since the OFE has to sell the whole state; these ads are generic but show the Florida brand quite clearly.
Hollis Batchelor asks for public comments.
Michael Gerrity asks what is defined as a talent agent and a service agent?
Hollis Batchelor answers if you are attempting to solicit employment on behalf of another person and charging them a fee then you are a talent agent.
Discussion follows regarding ownership of rights in incentive program.
Susan Albershardt says that the Governor has suggested a mega fund that would give a chunk of money for economic development. We might be included on this. On first day of the special session it became apparent that the Legislators didn’t like the mega fund. We came close but we didn’t get anything. The Governor is on our side.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:40 pm.