At the Film Roundtable we discussed strengthening our network of NEO film stakeholders but we were largely talking regionally. After the roundtable, Laura Paglin and I discussed how important it is for NEO film makers to be connected with LA (and everywhere else in the world) - we should have branch Media Arts Centers in other film centers, just like Kent State and CIA have branch campuses in Italy.
Further, we should make it a priority to include in our network, and industry planning, all the people in the global film industry who have any connection with Cleveland whatsoever - this is consistent with the type of outreach going on in other sectors of the local economy and I believe the Cleveland Film Commission already pursues some distant connections... it shouldn't be too hard to go global quickly.
We need to build the film network to not only include but attract the global community, and we need to include all the distant stakeholders possible - each could decide to film, move, invest or hire here, if they feel part of the community.
Any thoughts?
Links:
[1] http://realneo.us/forum/publicity-and-support-for-independent-filmakers-in-neo
[2] http://realneo.us/forum/neo-to-build-media-arts-center