Ward Emling, director of the Mississippi Film Office, has been re-elected to a two-year term as president of the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI). He heads a slate of AFCI officers that consists of: first VP Dana Theveneau, from the South of France Film Commission; second VP Pat Swinney Kaufman of the New York State Governor’s Office for Motion Picture & TV Development; secretary Sue Dalziel of the South West (England) Film Commission; and treasurer Georgette Deemer of the Hawaii Film Office.
Theveneau, Kaufman and Dalziel were elected to one-year terms. Deemer begins a two-year term as treasurer. The election was held during the AFCI’s annual Cineposium confab, which wrapped last week in Manhattan Beach. Serving with these officers on the AFCI board are: Robin Holabird of the Reno/Tahoe, Nevada Film Office; Joe O’Kane of the San Jose Film & Video Commission; Laurie Richards of the Nebraska Film Office; Jorge Santoyo of Mexico’s National Film Commission; and Sara Shaak of Canada’s Prince George/Northern B.C. Film Commission.
The new board will play an integral part in a planned change of AFCI’s management structure, which will take place over the next eight to 10 months. For the past six years, the AFCI has been managed by Barbara Shore, whose Los Angeles-based Shore Management handles several clients. President Emling credited Shore with facilitating "enormous growth in terms of AFCI membership" during her tenure. But at this juncture, the AFCI is looking to hire a full-time executive who will be exclusively dedicated to the organization’s agenda. The AFCI also will establish a national headquarters. Though no decision has been made on the AFCI headquarters’ location, Emling conjectured that the Los Angeles area would be among the leading options.
The naming of an executive director or managing director-type was described by Emling as the next logical step in the AFCI’s progression, helping it to attain a higher industry profile and to realize more of its goals. He noted that other trade associations have benefited from having a full-time executive.
The transition in AFCI management will be facilitated by Montana Film Office director Lonie Stimac, a past AFCI board member. Stimac is stepping down from her Montana Film Office post to open an independent firm, Sentience Global Solutions, which will be based in Montana. Stimac’s new venture will work closely with the AFCI board on the search for an AFCI executive director. Emling said that Sentience Global Solutions should be fully up and running in the next few weeks. Then the transition period will begin that ultimately will yield a full-time AFCI executive, and organizational headquarters. Emling said the timing of Stimac’s career change was fortuitous in that it corresponded with the AFCI’s timetable for initiating its managerial transition.
Once an executive director is in place, the AFCI will set an expanded agenda of specific objectives, said Emling. "It would be premature for me to talk about those goals at this point," he related. "Suffice it to say that we are looking to establish ourselves on a higher plane. We already have attained a certain respect in the industry for serving production of any type, providing access to locations. Now we want to build upon that and be of greater service to the filmmaking community."
Emling observed that while the AFCI is embarking on a transition, so, too, is the industry, with TV and feature labor contracts coming up next year for writers and actors. He said that the Cineposium gathering was heartened by news that the actors’ strike against the advertising industry had been settled. Though Mississippi and other locales may have gotten some additional spot business during the strike, the bottom line, said Emling, is that "a lot of people can now finally get back to work. We’re looking forward to commercial production being at full force again. Production had been hit hard, particularly in production centers around the U.S."
