Efforts have been ongoing for years to turn the Sarasota-Bradenton area into a filmmaking hub, with varied success. Institutions like the Sarasota Film Festival leave their mark each year, while expensive blunders like the flailing Sanborn Studios incentives deal lend a bitter taste to the whole operation. This year, an announcement from Ringling College of Art and Design regarding a new 30,000-square-foot professional-grade sound studio and post-production facility reinvigorated the conversation, leading many to ask what exactly the next step entails if Sarasota is to one day be what the burgeoning film community hopes it could be. Among the many players involved—institutions such as the Sarasota County Film and Entertainment Office (the Office), community groups like Manasota Films and the filmmakers themselves —their perspectives give a slightly different picture and the way forward remains uncertain. For those in the trenches, the writers and directors trying to get their projects off the ground, the answer is obvious: invest in the artist and let the product speak for itself. But for a community with such a reputation for supporting the arts, some filmmakers say they don’t see much for filmmaking.

“For the majority of Sarasota, it’s more of a hobby, not trying to make something good to where we could make money down the road,”says writer and director JB Whirtley, whose short film Bullet of Madness has garnered studio interest even prior to completion. “What we’re wanting to do here is make quality film. If you want to make an impact in Sarasota, you have to make a good movie.”A central problem expressed by local filmmakers is that the lack of respect for the craft as art has led to a filter-less echo chamber interested more in accolades and self-congratulation than serious work.

“These days if you make a film people say, ‘Well at least you made a film,’but that’s not good enough,” says Thomas Nudi, another filmmaker who recently returned from the L.A. scene. “No one wants to work hard, they just want to pat each other on the back and say ‘Good job.’”

The work does not progress, they say, and the Suncoast’s celluloid emissaries remain underdressed and out of their league. This attitude permeates the rest of the operation, according to Trishul Thejasvi, whose short film The Sunny Side recently took home the award for “Most Outrageous”at the Orlando International Film Festival. Local talent, particularly actors, see their participation as humoring local hobbyists, not serious artists, and so demand compensation that up-and-coming creatives cannot afford. As a result, Thejasvi, Nudi and Whirtley rely on the generosity of outside talent, coming in from Tampa, Orlando and sometimes even New York, but still demanding less than their local counterparts.

“They don’t know the process; it’s a lack of education,” says Thejasvi, writer, director and founder of the Bradenton production company Orensis Films. “I worked for years for free. You have to work as a starving artist and gain your experience. I still work for free.”But most damaging, they say, is the effect this endless chorus of unsubstantiated praise has on the government apparatus designed to promote film in the area.

“It’s the people they choose to sensationalize,” says Whirtley, citing a recent project promoted by the Office, a project Thejasvi and Nudi agree does not represent quality local filmmaking. “That movie is terrible and [the filmmaker] is getting more attention than the people who are really serious about it.”

“Anyone can look at [the film] objectively and see there was no craft and it’s not of quality,” says Nudi. For these reasons, Thejasvi says he felt a slight sting when he heard of the $1.75 million from the Film and Entertainment Office for the new Ringling facility. (CORRECTION: The $1.75 million dollars given to the Ringling post-production facility initially attributed to the Film and Entertainment Office actually came from a Financial Incentive Grant approved by Sarasota County Government, not the Film and Entertainment Office. The Office shepherds and guides projects through the incentive process, but does not have the funds or authority to distribute monies of this magnitude.)

“I saw that figure and I thought, ‘You give me a quarter of a million and I’ll make a great film that will make the area stand out,’” says Thejasvi.

“For $250,000 you can make four films in this area that are amazing and say, ‘This is where films are being made.’”This hits a fundamental disconnect between the creatives and the stewards in the local film scene—artists want support for specific projects, films that they say will put the area on the cinematic map in terms of quality, while officials such as Jeanne Corcoran, director of the Sarasota County Film and Entertainment Office, have a more business-minded approach, looking at what will build a film economy and bring jobs, regardless of the supposed quality of any individual project. Not that anyone at the Office wants bad films, it’s just not seen as their place to judge.

In her time, Corcoran has undoubtedly made the Office an indispensable asset for projects filming in her county, securing locations, acquiring permits and handling tax incentives. A full-time dedicated film commission operating under the standards of the Association of Film Commissioners International, where Corcoran just completed a term on the board, the Office supplies all these services and more free of charge, all in the name of building a consistent and profitable film economy.

“They’re hustling more than I am to get my permits,” says Nudi of his experience with the Office’s Bradenton counterpart, the Manatee County Film Commission, while others agree the same can be said for the Office. “They go out of their way to make you feel comfortable as a filmmaker.”

According to Corcoran, funding individual projects such as Whirtley, Thejasvi and Nudi suggests an example of the classic “everything in one basket” approach, whereas projects like the planned Ringling facility will assist multiple projects at once. And unlike a single film, which will eventually call it a wrap, professional-grade facilities can potentially provide a steady stream of activity, meaning more jobs coming to the area and resulting in more exposure for local talent.

All in all, for an organization with limited spending power, banking on a single project is, and has proven to be, a risky endeavor.

“It would be great to have a film get a few million dollars, but that’s one film with a very slim chance of finding great success,” says Corcoran. “Your odds are better when you spread that over multiple projects.”But the hardest pill to swallow for budding Sarasota Spielbergs may be that feature-length films just don’t hold their place at the top of the heap anymore. If the goal is to create a thriving film economy, then the definition of film will need to change with the times.

No longer dealing simply with a handful of films and TV shows a year, the Office now handles a wide array of projects for a diverse set of clients. From commercials to reality shows to web promotions and independent film, the playing field has expanded rapidly, giving the Office more traffic and more options. Feature-length filmmaking has become just one more part of an ever-increasing operation.

“Media is changing and the nature of production is changing,” says Corcoran. Advertising Sarasota itself is another essential function that the Office provides, convincing studios and artists that Sarasota has the locations and resources necessary for shooting a quality product and the incentives to make it worthwhile. Corcoran has to adapt not only to what filmmakers in Sarasota want, but what will bring outside investment and productions, and for Sarasota that may not mean feature-length films.

“We look for our bread and butter—that is steady income and jobs—to come from TV,” she says. According to Corocoran, it would be a mistake to believe that Sarasota could become a location for big budget filmmaking comparable to Miami or Orlando, not to mention the West Coast. That’s not what Sarasota is equipped for and to plan for that is to plan for failure. Recognizing the strengths of the area and playing to those may not point directly to the Silver Screen, but that doesn’t mean it’s the wrong direction.

But some, such as Mark Troy, the actor and founder of Manasota Films and a sort of de facto spokesperson for the local community, remain optimistic as to Sarasota’s cinematic aspirations.

“Let’s do it one step at a time,” says Troy. “I would like to see Sarasota-Bradenton become the undisputed diamond of Florida filmmaking.”

Troy is convinced that the Suncoast already has all the things it needs to make great film; it just needs to properly use them. Networking has been key to Troy’s plan and his attempts for the last two years through Manasota Films, a group of filmmakers and actors who meet monthly to screen their work and meet fellow artists, he regards as a success.

“The best are mingling with the best and all in the effort to raise the quality of the productions that we’re making,” says Troy. “People are working together that otherwise may not have met.”

Troy has faith that the community is headed in the right direction, noting both the coming Ringling facility and support from Corcoran, who he characterizes as “very open and very proactive in making her resources known to our filmmakers.” Currently in talks, Troy hopes to strengthen the relationship between Sarasota-Bradenton’s working professionals and the students at Ringling College, particularly with regards to supplying actors. It’s all there, he says; they just need the passion to keep trying.

“We’ve got to produce a lot as a community and it’s got to be good. It’s got to have something that grabs people’s attention,” says Troy. “Let’s do the best we can with what we have and see if we can attract resources.” SRQ

PHOTO PROVIDED BY THEJASVI.