Jennifer Shane Rebrands Fork in the Road Consulting into Michigan Film Source

Founded by former Hollywood Development Executive Jennifer Shane, Michigan Film Source is dedicated to introducing the appropriate Michigan based Film Crew and production services to film and television productions coming in from out of state. Michigan Film Source acts as a free resource to productions and helps them qualify areas where they can use Michigan based resources and maximize their tax incentive.

Jennifer spends the vast majority of her time vetting film crew and businesses. On the crew side Jennifer identifies those that already have film and/or television credits under the belt. Vendors providing services to the film and production industry must have experience working in the business as well in order to be promoted by Michigan Film Source. Michigan Film Source reaches out to productions at a number of different phases. In some cases Michigan Film Source has intel that the production may be coming to the state before they have even submitted an application to the state; in other scenarios the production is just about to start pre-production and then there are those that hear about us once they are in full swing and have voids to fill. Michigan Film Source has worked on prominent productions including Salvation Boulevard, Transformers 3, Hostel 3, Vamps, Street Kings 2, A Reasonable Bunch and Family Weekend.

Michigan Film Source has just recently launched a new program, the Promotional Perks Program, for local businesses (restaurants, bars, clubs, stores, spas, salons, gyms, etc) to offer special promotions to Michigan's entertainment community. The Promotional Perks Program is a unique and targeted way for local businesses to get their services and establishments noticed by the film and television community. With Michigan Film Source being at the center for resources in the area, these promotions are sent out to the productions, film crews, film school students and grads, talent and general fans of the industry.

Prior to launching Michigan Film Source, Jennifer founded Fork in the Road Consulting which was dedicated to consulting with Michigan based burgeoning businesses and film schools that were looking to get work on productions (both local and those coming in from out of state). Based on the clients Fork in the Road represented all having the same objective of gaining work through the productions, Jennifer's main strategy was to reach out to productions coming into town. Based on Jennifer's relationships and resourceful nature, she was able to get in front of decision makers and thus get her clients the opportunity to present their services to the decisionmakers (Line Producers, Production Designers, Production Supervisors etc).

Productions were gaining trust in Jennifer and her name quickly started getting out as someone who understood the Michigan Film Industry and the resources available. Productions started reaching out to Jennifer asking to help in finding everything from film crew to production office space to locations to shoot to production services to talent needs. Thus the need to rebrand the consulting business became greatly obvious and Michigan Film Source was born.

Jennifer returned home to Michigan in 2002 from a successful career in Hollywood to be closer to family. Jennifer's entertainment industry experience has allowed her to build a wealth of connections and insider knowledge, putting her in the unique position to become a valuable resource to the Michigan film community. Jennifer's vast knowledge and connections mainly come from her years working with legendary Hollywood agent/producer Michael Ovitz's groundbreaking venture, Artists Management Group (AMG).

After completing the infamous Trainee Program, Jennifer rose up the ranks of AMG's film division, Artist Production Group (APG), where she oversaw the busy Story Department and worked with the development team in shepherding to the screen such projects as Michael Crichton's Timeline, Godsend starring Robert De Niro, and The 51st State starring Samuel L. Jackson. In her role as Creative Executive, Jennifer served as the chief arbiter of incoming material, analyzing hundreds of screenplays, books, and magazine articles to determine what projects to acquire to fill the company's development slate. Jennifer was mentored and worked alongside such producers as Tripp Vinson (Red Dawn) and Cathy Schulman (Crash, Salvation Boulevard).

Prior to joining AMG, Jennifer served as Story Editor at the renowned production company RKO Pictures (King Kong, Citizen Kane), where she was responsible for providing creative direction to current projects as well as mining the legendary RKO archives for potential film remakes. During her time at RKO, Jennifer worked on the team that produced Mighty Joe Young (Disney), learning the ins-and-outs of working on set. Working directly wit writers, producers, and studio executives proved to be invaluable as the experience allowed Jennifer to learn the ins-and-outs of the movie business from the ground up.

When Jennifer returned to Michigan in 2002 she discovered the world of corporate events. To Jennifer it was the closest industry she could get into at the time that brought that “Hollywood producer” side of her out. Jennifer started her career as a Program Manager and moved up the event industry ranks to Account Manager and then to Creative Director where she managed the creative and marketing direction for all the programs that went through
pulse220 (formerly known as Star Trax Corporate Events).

As Creative Director for pulse220, Jennifer was instrumental in pulse220 being named one of the World's Top 50 Event Marketing Agencies by Event Marketer Magazine. Jennifer spearheaded event productions for such companies as Quicken Loans, Gatorade, Motor City Casino and the Westin Book Cadillac. It was a bittersweet decision for Jennifer to leave the world of events, but she couldn't help but realize that her career was about to come full circle. Jennifer left a great career and company to take the risk of getting back into what she left and loved in Los Angeles: the film business. “In 2009 I spent a lot of time evaluating where I was in my career and realizing that I had a unique area of experience that could be of help to many different facets of business in Michigan's film industry. After several in-depth conversations with my former mentor and boss, Tripp Vinson (who was in Detroit last year producing Red Dawn), he convinced me there was a real need in the state for someone that understood the film business and the local resources available.

After experiencing the quick success and value that Fork in the RoadConsulting provided to productions, Jennifer saw there was a demand for a more defined service to the industry and has thus started the process of rebranding and launching under the new name of Michigan Film Source.
The main focus of Michigan Film Source is to be the premiere concierge production resource provider to productions that come to the state of Michigan. Jennifer will work closely on vetting the most appropriate Michigan
based businesses and crew to promote to incoming productions. It is a win-win for everyone involved.

Productions from out of state are incented to use Michigan based services with a 40-42% tax rebate on applicable Michigan expenditures. With Jennifer being in the forefront with incoming productions she is able to get Michigan based businesses noticed by the decision makers on the film, increasing their chances of new revenue they may not have been able to get on their own.

Jennifer was the product of the state losing its creative talent to another state (California). One of Jennifer's goals with Michigan Film Source is to help build the state's film industry and retain as much of the young creative talent and businesses from Michigan as possible.

In June, Jennifer qualified for one year of subsidized office space through Jewish Federation's program Community Next. Community Next's mission is to retain young, Jewish people to work and live in the state. Jewish Federation gave space to the program to use and award to young Jewish entrepreneurs that were starting businesses that helped retain young people to stay in Michigan.

Jennifer graduated with a degree in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin and attended high school at Detroit Country Day School.

To learn more about Michigan Film Source go to
www.michiganfilmsource.com. To become a Fan of Michigan Film Source on Facebook go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bingham-Farms-MI/Michigan-Film-Source/1183...