Florida Film & Entertainment Advisory Council
3rd Quarter Meeting Minutes
October 12, 2004
The Cummer Museum, Jacksonville, Florida
The third quarter meeting for the Florida Film and Entertainment Advisory Council was called to order on October 12, 2004, at 12:25 pm, at The Cummer Museum in Jacksonville, Florida.
Members Present Members Not Present
Lew Klechak-Chairman Daphne Boyd
Paul Meena-Vice Chairman Ronald Castell (Resigned)
Jasper Balance Doug Guetzloe
Leslie Ann Bartlett Jorge Hane
Hollis Batchelor Arlene Herson
Raul Matteo Patrick Keating
Todd Roobin Burt Reynolds (Honorary Member)
Kathryn Waters Rebecca O’Dell Townsend
Lorraine Wood Sterling Van Wagenen
John Welch
Susan Albershardt
Frank “Bud” Nocera
Lucia Fishburne
Marty Wilson
Kasey Hoy, Executive Assistant
Raquel Cisneros, Communications Coordinator
Meeting was called to order by Chair Lew Klechek at 12:25 p.m.
Introductions:
Chair Klechek presented plaque to Representative Davis for his work on behalf of the entertainment industry. Representative Davis gave thank you comments to Council.
Introduction of public: Judy McDonald, Chris Ranung and Steven Matheny.
Chair Klechek presented plaque to past chair, Hollis Batchelor, for his work serving the entertainment industry.
Review of excused and unexcused absences.
Discussion of absence notification letters and limit of excused absences. According to the FFEAC By-laws you are allowed three excused absences, the fourth is unexcused.
Kathryn Waters proposed writing a letter to Jorge Hane regarding his four consecutive excused absences. Paul Meena agreed.
Discussion of Sunshine Law
Any conversation of two or more regarding council business is in violation of the Sunshine Law.
Chairman Dr. Klechak proposed that Film Commissioner Albershardt be removed as a member of the FFEAC so she would not fall under the Sunshine Laws. Said that he had already talked to Representative Davis about this and Representative Davis agreed to sponsor the amendment.
Approval moved by Hollis Batchelor.
Second by Todd Roobin.
Motion approved.
Future Meeting dates were set:
December 6, 2004, Riverside Hotel, Ft. Lauderdale
March 8, 2004, The Capitol, Tallahassee
June, Tampa – Date TBD
September, Orlando – Date TBD
Minutes from second quarter meeting approved.
Approval moved by Leslie Bartlett.
Second by Lorraine Wood
Motion approved.
Susan Albershardt informed the council that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation did not have the authority to assess a one-time fee from talent agents and they retracted the fee, although they are still going forward with deregulation. Susan asked that the council review the current draft of the legislation and make notes to give to the DBPR so that we can support the legislation during the next session. A meeting was scheduled for the Talent Agents Committee to discuss the issue further, for November 4, 2004 via teleconference. Raul Mateo requested to be added to the Talent Agents Committee.
Susan Albershardt reported that the Transporter 2 decreased its budget to $1.5 million, therefore, more money will be provided to the next project in line for the financial incentive. The invoices for the Transporter 2 have been submitted to the Governor’s Office of Film & Entertainment and are being pre-audited by the OFE before being sent to the financial auditor.
Draft of FFEAC letter to Governor Bush distributed to the Council. Reviewed and approved.
Review and approval of Legislative Sub-Committee conference call minutes. Areas that were discussed included:
1. Digital media effects – This revision will allow digital media effects companies to utilize qualified expenditures from all qualified productions, not just the productions that receive the Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive.
2. Application submission – This revision will add to the “first come first serve” provision a sentence that further classifies each project in the queue according to principal photography start date.
3. Two highest paid actors – This revision will change the language that disqualifies the two highest paid “actors” from reimbursement to the two highest paid “employees.”
4. Project qualification – Qualification will now depend on if a decision to shoot in Florida has already been made. This will disqualify projects that were already going to shoot in Florida anyway.
5. The parameters for qualification on television shows will now cover a minimum of $850,000 for an entire fiscal year, as opposed to $850,000 for only one episode.
An area that were left up to a vote by the advisory council included the requirement to spend a percentage of the budget in Florida.
Review of Glitch Bill.
Discussion regarding application submission and requirement to spend a percentage of budget in Florida. The council voted and decided to not change the specifications of the requirement to spend a percentage of the budget in Florida.
Discussion followed regarding not including still photography in the Glitch Bill. The council voted and decided to eliminate still photography from the Glitch Bill.
Susan Albershardt presented the FFEAC with a power point presentation of the NAICS codes, the annual comparison of NAICS codes, business & production report, media arts mentoring program, professional development series and Florida screenplay writing competition.
Dr. Klechak submitted a letter written by Richard Sears regarding the online production directory on www.filminflorida.com. Susan offered the following comments as to why the OFE needs an online production guide:
She went on to explain:
Todd Roobin informed the FFEAC of the current activities of Film Florida, including advertising and the Florida Film & Entertainment Alumni Reunion.
Chris Ranung commented on the energy of the FFEAC, “very impressed with the energy, small films are very important and I thank you for that.”
Meeting adjourned at 5:20pm.