"If you want one year of prosperity, grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, grow trees. If you want 100 years of prosperity, grow people"

Not only do I anticipate that 2005 will be a year of growth in numbers, but also growth in relationships with others in the production community with an indirect result of businesses growth.

The year ahead is full of opportunity and several MCA-I members have stepped up to make things happen. Stevan Pope is heading the Web Site Committee along with Alan Thursby, Nathan Greene and Bill Green. Ray Palmer will once again assist with A/V for the meetings. Clay Stubblefield is overseeing the Road Crew, along with Lou Hunt, increasing opportunities for recruiting new members and new business leads through complimentary associations. Arizona’s premiere Video Festival Awards Banquet is being directed by Skip Neeley. Ginny Temple and Jason Wolf have been instrumental in bringing Terry Sorenson on board as our new Sales Manager. Nathan Greene and Steve Shepple have both agreed to master the website. And Diane Taylor has been brought on board as Chief Editor of the e-Communicator. Thanks also to Mitch Hodge and Jerold Chandler for their participation in the Board Retreat.

And of course I’m very excited about the new board, Heidi Capriotti as Communications Director who is also overseeing the PSA project, Alan Thursby as the new Membership Director and Joe Reynolds as VP. Each brings great insight, experience and direction to your membership.

Greg Wolfe has agreed to keep the books temporarily. Yet I am looking for someone to step up as the permanent Treasurer. If you’re interested in this area and have been a member in MCA-I for at least two years, please contact me.

I’m excited about the year ahead in our organization - - building and growing together. I hope you’ll get on board in the organization. The way to growth is through building other people, and I hope you’ll get on board by serving on a committee.

- David Haneke, President

Your new MCA-I Board is off and running for 2005-2006! With your help we can make the MCA-I Arizona chapter even better. You are an important part of this group and your input is something we need to help the chapter grow!

My goal is to plan meetings ahead of time as much as possible so you'll have an opportunity to plan for what’s coming up. I have put together a list of potential topics for our monthly meetings. Please let us know what topics interest you by participating in our online survey via the link below.

It’s been said, "if something is worth doing, it is worth doing well". I will do my best to meet your needs. I am excited to be involved in the chapter, meet more members, and hopefully make a difference along the way.

Anytime you have an idea or location for a meeting, feel free to drop me an e-mail at: joe@skylinevideo.com

- Joe Reynolds, Vice President

The Phoenix Film Project (in association with the Phoenix Film Festival) sponsors monthly filmmaker seminars designed to provide a steady source of information and networking opportunities for local filmmakers. For a nominal attendence fee (usually only $5-$8), attendees can experience a broad range of industry-related topics in the company of their peers.

The August seminar is tentatively titled "Tools of the Trade: Film vs Video". The plan is to present a session on the differences among the various shooting media, what the considerations should be, compromises, facts and fallacies, etc.

The August seminar is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, August 20 between 1pm and 3pm at the Phoenix Central/Burton Barr Library. Host and Coordinator is PFP Education Director, Joe Gruberman (www.jgrub.com/bronckspark) Seminars are held once a month throughout the year.

If anyone at MCAI would like to participate as a panelist for an hour, or lead a solo one-hour session on this subject, please contact Joe Gruberman at papajoe@jgrub.com or (602)391-5517at your earliest convenience. This can be a good opportunity to promote your goods and services to a targeted audience.

"Every family has a story. What's yours?" is the slogan for Steve Pender's company, Family Legacy Video, Inc. which was recently featured in a column in the Arizona Daily Star. While creating a video biography for their family, Steve helped a local couple secure one-of-a-kind footage of a relative running in the 1912 Olympic Games.

The Arizona Daily Star article can be read online at: http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/allheadlines/80 874.php .

A pdf version of the same article can be found at: http://www.familylegacyvideo.com/members/8032 30/uploaded/AZStar_June22_2005.pdf .

Pender was also interviewed for an in-depth article on video biographies that appeared in the July issue of EventDV Magazine. This article is available online at: http://www.eventdv.net/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx ?ArticleID=10150&PageNum=1

Each morning during my short commute to work I am reminded of the people in my community who have much less than I. The homeless women pushing shopping carts on Indian School Road, the large families in the front yards of tiny houses, the blind man who walks to the bus stop every day. These people represent thousands of Valley residents who are in need of assistance. And while our community supports hundreds of non-profit agencies committed to those in need, the agencies themselves struggle – for financial support, volunteer involvement, and public awareness.

MCA-I members are in a unique position to donate an asset that many grass-roots local charities cannot access. MCA-I member Stevan Pope realized this several years ago and created the MCA-I-AZ Chapter 44 PSA Project. Since it’s inception in 2000, Chapter 44 members have donated more than twenty :30-second PSA’s to Valley charities.

“What a tool!” said Jeffrey Battle, President & CEO of Scottsdale Training and Rehabilitation Services, who received a MCA-I PSA in 2004, produced by Dan Crapsi and Ginny Temple. “It helps us take our agency to people who aren’t able to visit us. We show it to clients and to prospective funders.”

Jeff added, “This PSA speaks highly of your organization”, reminding me that we are all part of a whole . We each have an opportunity to make our “whole” better, richer, and more supportive, whether it be a networking organization like MCA-I, or a metropolitan community. True, my :30-second PSA may not directly help the blind man walking to the bus stop, but could it spur one person to volunteer, one business to make a donation? Could it create a positive impact? Instigate goodwill? Absolutely. In turn, the PSA’s build name recognition for MCA-I members, vendors and advertisers.

Members Steve Wargo (behind camera), Mike Carro, Heidi Capriotti and Mitch Ives (not shown) on location at Collins College to shoot the RESCUE PSA. Click on image & view clips of other PSA projects

More than half of our membership has stepped forward this summer to donate their skills to these six Valley non-profit agencies:

• Voyages Unbound - developing personal leadership skills and team building skills through the sport of sailing for everyone regardless of ability.
• RESCUE - the last voice for homeless dogs and cats who, through no fault of their own, find themselves awaiting death at our county pounds.
• MCIH Burn Unit - The only burn center in Arizona, nationally renowned for the quality of its burn care, the Burn Center provides inpatient and outpatient care for both adult and pediatric patients.
• AMVETS (American Veterans serving Veterans) – provides support for both veterans and the active military in procuring their earned entitlements. They also provide community services that enhance the quality of life for our nation’s veterans.
• Pet Grief Support Services - Operated by trained volunteers who themselves have suffered a devastating loss of a pet, the Service provides a telephone Helpline, monthly support group meetings, pet grief information, literature and reading lists, and referrals.
• Do It Now – creates and disseminates accurate, creative and realistic information on drug, alcohol and behavioral health topics to high-risk youth who are underserved by mainstream publications.

Look for the debut of these PSA’s at the MCA-I Video Festival in December, 2005.

How did August become “August” instead of, say "Murray"?

Well, after Julius's grandnephew Augustus defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra, and became emporer of Rome, the Roman Senate decided that there should be a month named after him, hence "August".

Where did the expression "Dog Days of Summer" originate?

Most directly, it's a translation of the Latin expression dies Caniculares, or "dog days". The dog days are the hot, sultry part of summer. They are not called this because dogs get lazy or mad when it's hot out, though this is a belief of long standing. The phrase refers to Sirius, or the Dog Star (in Latin, canicula), which is the brightest star in the constellation Canis Major ("the Big Dog") and is also the brightest star in the entire sky. The dog days are the days in which Sirius rises and sets at about the same time as the sun, which is roughly between early July and late August which happens to be when the weather is pretty grim in much of the country and of course Arizona.

There's also another meaning which will bring us right around to the purpose of this month’s column. The expression "dog days" is also used figuratively to mean “a period marked by lethargy, inactivity, or indolence”.

During these dog days of August 2005, the Arizona Film and Media Coalition is working away on by-laws & working with our lobbyist on various issues for next year. They’re watching and working with the Arizona Department of Revenue as they draft the regulations for the new transferable incentives, and they're listening to the phones ring - with increasing frequency - at the State Film Commissioner’s office, at certain location scout's offices and perhaps at a production company or two.

As of today what we know for sure is:

• There is renewed interest in filming in Arizona
• We will be back in 2007 for more legislation
• We will push the current administration, via our lobby arm, to substantially increase the Dept. of Commerce budget for 2006/2007
• The word is out among the international production community - Hollywood in particular - about Arizona and its new incentives
• The incentives will become effective 1 January of 2006
• There will be a signing ceremony sometime this fall

What we hear in the rumor mill is even more exciting to consider:

• One or two corporations and an Arizona Native American Tribe are discussing the construction of a large sound stage
• At least two major features ("major" defined as productions with budgets of more than 20 million dollars) will likely shoot in Arizona in the spring of 2006
• Certain out-of-state corporate production companies have indicated some interest and may establish offices in Arizona in the spring of 2006
• Inquiries have been made about Arizona production locations and incentives by European production companies, mostly state-run television networks

Reading the tea leaves at this stage of the continuing process is still quite difficult. However, I believe that we will have a clearer picture by late spring or early summer of 2006.

So, while these are the dog days, they are by no means lethargic or marked by inactivity for AFMC and the future of Arizona film and media production. We are going to keep after this to ensure that no other state can appropriate a production from Arizona because of superior incentives.

So wait, there's more...