Greetings Film Florida Members, Stakeholders, and Friends ~

During the election process, Floridians went to the polls in record numbers for a mid-term cycle to elect a new Governor and 140+ members in the Florida Senate and House, as well as others to represent us in public office. I want to personally thank and congratulate everyone in our industry that took an active role in communicating with the candidates to ensure your voices were heard and to make sure the candidates knew the importance of the film, television and digital media industry.

Members of our Government Relations team have met with Governor-Elect DeSantis and his team multiple times, communicating the importance of our industry as a way of putting Floridians to work at home, generating new revenues and increasing tourism, all important steps toward growing and diversifying Florida’s economy. We look forward to working with our new Governor and his entire team to send a signal that Florida is open for business and competing for high wage jobs in the entertainment production industry.

While we look forward to working with Governor-Elect DeSantis, it’s also important to understand that nothing can be done without the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives. As we indicated throughout the campaign season, communicating with and building relationships with your State Senators and Representatives is just as important, maybe even more so, than communicating with the candidates for Governor. In addition to the relationships that we have built with legislators over the last number of years, Film Florida has reached out (multiple times) to every new candidate, actively communicating with many of them. We will continue to reach out to those that were elected and further educate the new members of the Florida Legislature to ensure they understand the untapped potential of our industry.

Regardless of what happens in Tallahassee, Film Florida continues to focus on marketing the industry and the state of Florida as a premiere destination for film, television, and digital media production work. Film Florida, along with our local film commissioners who are part of Film Florida, will not stop promoting our industry and our state. We will highlight the best aspects available and do whatever is possible to generate and bring more work to Florida to keep people working.

If you are not a member of Film Florida, we would like to encourage you to join the organization. As a not-for-profit, we are funded entirely by our members so our ability to work on behalf of the industry is completely dependent upon the support we receive through our membership efforts. Please CLICK HERE to learn more about our membership packages and to join.

We hope you will make plans to join us at our next Film Florida Quarterly Meeting in Orlando. Film Florida members are invited to participate in Committee and Council meetings on Thursday, December 6 and Friday, December 7 while the Board of Directors meeting on Friday, December 7 is open to the public. In addition to the Film Florida meetings, the Florida Film & Entertainment Advisory Council (FFEAC) meeting is on Wednesday, December 5 (open to the public) and the Women in Film & Television Jingle Mingle is on Thursday, December 6 (open to the public, separate ticket required). CLICK HERE for more information about the upcoming meetings. We hope you will attend, along with industry professionals, local film commissioners, the State Film Commissioner Niki Welge and the Los Angeles Liaison Susan Simms. We plan on having a very productive couple days. Thank you for your continued support and engagement!

Sincerely,
Bonnie King
President, Film Florida