|
Made in Michigan: Writer/Producer Jill Gambaro returns home to Michigan to make urban musical film |
 Los Angeles, Ca., July 2008:
Michigander and independent writer/film producer Jill Gambaro returns to Michigan this month to scout out locations and local directing and musical talent for a film that she is developing. Black and White is a West Side Story meets Once urban musical, for which Jill won an award in the Best Historical Screenplay category at the Houston WorldFest Film Festival. Jill will produce the film through her independent production company Reflection Media, Inc. (RMI).
The story is set in Detroit during the late sixties, and she had always wanted to make the film on location. Now, with the added advantages of Michigan's new film incentives, it seems more appropriate than ever to do the project in Michigan.
Black and White is not just a period picture, but a personal project as well. Says Jill: "I grew up on the east side of Detroit, near the City Airport in the 1960's. The city was so alive for me, even in its decline. The musical rhythms of Motown and rock and jazz and blues were popping and the economic and social tensions of the time made for a compelling tapestry. More than a story about racial conflict, this is a story about the forces that pull people away from themselves and who they are, into groups where they are defined by what they are not."
About Jill: Based in Los Angeles, Jill Gambaro is an award-winning screenwriter, creative producer and entrepreneur. In 1993, she launched CinemAntics Productions, later adding an alternative media division and incorporating as Reflection Media, Inc. in 2006. (www.reflectionmedia.com)
Both Hollywood insiders and members of the independent film community have acknowledged Jill's skills as a producer, which include the extraordinary ability to produce independent feature films with high quality production values.
Jill began her career producing short films with first time directors as calling cards into the film and TV industry. She has recently finished producing her first narrative feature Letting Go and a feature documentary Imagine a School...Summerhill.
Before starting her own company, Jill spent seven years in film development working with various Hollywood studio production companies.
Says Jill: "I never set out to be an independent producer. However, the people I was working for in Hollywood kept mentioning that I had a number of qualities, skills and talents that were perfectly tailored for producing. At that time independent film was really starting to take off, and I had also become frustrated with the standard studio formula film."
From Michigan to NYC: Jill grew up in Detroit and Macomb County and then enrolled at Wayne State University as an electronic journalism major, and also studied dance and acting. After two years at Wayne, she was accepted into NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where she graduated with a degree in Dramatic Writing.
Her first screenplay and NYU thesis project, Sticking Together, won her a Nissan FOCUS award. Her feature drama screenplay Shadows In The Dust, which she is also considering filming in northern Michigan, was an official selection of the Independent Feature Film Market, a semi-finalist for the Chesterfield Film Writer's Project, and launched the NYU Staged Reading Series, directed by Vincent Schiavelli.
Jill is currently producing projects from her own screenplays, releasing several films to the festival circuit, and expanding the new media division of Reflection Media, Inc.
For more about Jill Gambaro and RMI please see the website: www.reflectionmedia.com
|
| Jill's Michigan Schedule July 27th - Aug. 3, 2008 |
|
Jill Gambaro will be in Michigan and available to Michigan press for reporting and interviews. Her schedule is:
Sunday, July 27th - Tuesday, July 29: in the Detroit area
Wedneday, July 30th - Sunday, Aug. 3: in Traverse City
|
|
CONTACT: Judy Sandra, JS Media Publicity
|
|
| |
|
|
|
Production Sidebar:
Top Ten Reasons Why Jill Wants to Make a Film in Michigan |
|
#10 - The state has put out the call to produce movies in Michigan as way to boost the local economy, and it's a welcome invitation to this native. |
#9 - Michigan culture has left an indelible impression on Jill, and she wants to celebrate that.
#8 - She wants to use as many Michigan natives on her films as possible. She has already trained Michigan interns in Hollywood.
#7 - Her award-winning screenplay Black and White is set in Detroit, a city which she feels outsiders do not fully understand, and the film simply must be made on location.
#6 - Because she is a huge Red Wings fan and has never seen a home game at The Joe. OK, that's not such a great reason, but it gives her a line to say: "Let's Go Red Wings!"
#5 - Jill is not just some Hollywood film producer, taking advantage of the fabulous new 42% tax incentives to save some bucks. Although, she thinks that's awesome and very helpful, so thank you Governor Granholm and Michigan state legislature!
#4 - California people talk about leaving the state because they can do better elsewhere. Michigan people believe that you should be in it for the long haul.
#3 - Michigan people have stayed here because they love their state, regardless of its economic and political woes. That's a commodity on which to build an economy-- the excitement of those who live there and the vision of what the state could be.
#2 - Jill has a deep love for Michigan because it's a beautiful place, and Michiganders possess the very special qualities of kindness and fairness that she has not found in any other state where she has lived.
#1 - And the #1 Reason why Jill wants to make films in Michigan is:
"I may have taken this filmmaker out of Michigan, but I have never taken Michigan out of this filmmaker!" | |
|
