Richard Jewell, director of the Michigan Film Office, has a to-do list that includes developing curriculum standards for the state's film industry training programs. View larger photo

Richard Jewell can see a time in the not-so-distant future when Detroit will be a major film industry capital, second only to Hollywood.

Jewell, director of the Michigan Film Office's workforce development efforts, sees in Michigan a state brimming with the raw materials of moviemaking. That includes diverse settings for everything from a beach movie to an urban noir thriller, tons of talent eager to adapt to a growing industry, and an edgy creative set of writers, directors and others that are ripe for national recognition.

The missing piece, he said, is a big enough pool of skilled workers to populate the sets and studios producing movies, TV shows, animation and video games brought to Southeast Michigan by the now embattled film incentive program introduced last year.

But Jewell has a plan. And two years from now, he said, Michigan will be well on its way to being a major Hollywood player.

“Detroit is on the mat, but we're getting up,” said Jewell, who lives in Detroit. “We can create the best state in the nation for the film industry, I see it.”

It's a heady vision, and one that comes with a lengthy to-do list. Included on Jewell's list is creating curriculum standards for the state's industry training programs and a collaborative model of training that reaches all the way down to grade school. The goal is to produce deep well of homegrown talent that can attract moviemakers to the state.

It's something that Jewell, 54, is uniquely qualified to do, said Michigan Film Office Director Janet Lockwood.

“Nobody had brought the stakeholders together until Richard,” Lockwood said. The task would be daunting without a deep knowledge of the movie business. But Jewell, “already knew about that.”

Jewell earned his chops as an actor, producer and writer. Highlights of a 15-year-long career include appearances in movies such as “The Irishman,” and writing and producing his own movie, “The Mongol King” in 2005.

Jewell's day job for 26 years was state investigator with the Racing Commission, including time in that organization's regulatory division. He taught criminal justice classes at Michigan State University for nearly 15 years, and in 1992, driven by political conviction, headed Ross Perot's campaign in Michigan.

He's working to get a children's book, Donny's Magic Touch, published and in his spare time, he writes poetry.

It's an eclectic resume. But one that Jewell said gave him the creative and pragmatic background needed to push the state's workforce development efforts forward at a breakneck pace.

Jewell's been on the job a scant three months, but already has helped developed curriculum mandates and a cooperative approach to developing talent that includes industry unions, area educators and nonprofits.

Jewell's plan hinges on connecting area educators, the industry's primary union for production workers, and aspiring filmmakers and industry workers. It's a collaborative approach, and one bent on helping workers quickly gain film industry credibility by earning “social capital.”

More a lifestyle than a job, Jewell said making it in film depends more on your ability to market yourself, rather than pure talent alone.

“The film industry is not about just getting a job; it's about a passion, a lifestyle,” Jewell said. “And working in film is about selling yourself.”

A pilot program is set to kick off in January at Detroit-based Wayne County Community College District. The program includes a one-year certificate and job internships on working sets supervised by working members of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, said George Swan, vice chancellor.

The college is working to establish a pipeline to Wayne State University and other area schools to create a path to a four-year degree.

“This has really given us the opportunity to build a program that could rival Connecticut or New Mexico, for example, that is really promoting the film industry in ways we're trying to emulate,” Swan said.

IATSE Local 38 Detroit is shifting its own film apprenticeship into the pilot, said Tim Magee, business agent for the group.

The union is “stretched to the wire” trying to get personnel for film projects in the region, Magee said.

“What we hope to have is a curriculum that we can author to (a range of schools),” Magee said. “So that we know that essentially the same training is going on place to place.”

Training should start young, Jewell said, including grade school. Jewell cited the digital media Boll Family YMCA program headed by Gillian Eaton, vice president of that organization's arts and humanities program, as an example of how we might mine young talent.

That program, now two years old, not only teaches grade-schoolers and teen-agers digital media and film industry basics, but teaches them how to pitch a client and deliver an end product.

“They need to be aware of the judgments that are made on creative work, and how to survive that and still work within the business world,” Eaton said. “Career guidance counselors are 20 years behind the times. They're not telling these kids that things they do naturally (such as play video games or watch movies) are potential job opportunities.”

For Jewell, spreading that message could have far reaching benefits.

“Film is the last bastion of entrepreneurism in its purest form,” he said. “It's a critical piece that will help to reinvigorate the state and instill a sense of confidence.”