Film institute effort begins

SANDPOINT - If local film impresario Ted Parvin's projections are on target, Sandpoint will be home to a state-of-the art film school by this time next year.

Three years in the making, the proposed Northwest Film Institute will offer hands-on training in all aspects of film making while laying the groundwork for a solid North Idaho film industry.

Parvin, who is the chairman and driving force behind the institute, has more than 40 years experience in the film industry and can count luminaries Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger as coworkers.

The city recently completed a feasibility study on the institute that had mostly-favorable conclusions about the likelihood of its success, but Parvin said supporters are now entering the most difficult realm of the process: fundraising.

NFI will need $400,000 just to break ground and $3 million by September 2009 to cover the first three years of the operation. Parvin is looking to gain state and federal funding to go along with significant private contributions.

Start-up costs are substantial, but Parvin said creating a local film industry would eventually be a boon to the economy, and statistics back him up.

According to a 2006 Motion Picture Association study, Montana reported $53 million in film production-related spending in the past six years, resulting in an $81 million impact on the state economy while adding $4.3 million in tax revenue.

Parvin and his supporters believe NFI would jump-start a self-sustaining local film industry without relying on outside workers for success.

"There are people that think we should bring Hollywood to town, and that's really not a very good idea," Parvin said. "We need to stop thinking about bringing in Robert De Niro and Tom Hanks and start developing a business where we can hire people here."

The private, non-profit school will offer its students a year long scholastic program followed by second year at an outside production company. After their second year, Parvin hopes a number of the students would remain in the area to work, which would eventually create an ingrained film industry.

"You're going to lose 90 percent of them, but it's that 10 percent that will build an industry," Parvin said.

The institute will look to bring in experienced industry leaders to fill its faculty openings, and Parvin said he as already reached an agreement with Paul Castro - writer of the 2007 film "August Rush" - to teach screenwriting.

Eschewing the theory that bigger is better, Parvin's ideal North Idaho film industry would mirror that of Spokane's North By Northwest Productions, which produces three to four features per year, none of which cost more than $1 million to make. Parvin said he would also look to capitalize on the burgeoning DVD and cable markets, which he said are growing and will need more content.