Washington Filmworks
Board of Directors Meeting Minutes
June 15, 2012
WF Office-1218 Third Ave, Suite 1709
Present: Becky Bogard, Donna James, By Phone: Don Jensen, Abby Dylan, Greg Smith.
Norma Straw by phone joined later.
Becky called the meeting to order at 9:00am. There was a motion to approve the
minutes, it was seconded and unanimously approved.
Financial Report:
Monthly Financial Statements
In Craig Schafer’s absence, Don Jensen presented the financials. He reported they
were on track and all appeared well.
Approval of Budget
Amy presented the proposed budget by outlining the priorities the board set at the
May retreat of maintaining and growing our core competencies, securing alternative
funding, building production resources that empower local filmmakers, and exploring
innovation to leverage our creative capital.
Norma joined the call.
Amy continued that the budget allocates resources for new services and programs
including the implementation of new reporting practices and work with the
economist, the new the innovation lab, and new fundraising opportunities. She also
explained the budget includes some money for updating internal production
resources that were not kept up to date when the renewal of the program was in
questions. Significant updates must be made to the website and database as well as
Reel Scout. She advocated to a return of full time staff, including a full-time admin,
paying interns as advised by our auditors, and a promotion and raise for Julie to
Direct of Operations and Finance. She added that there would have to be an
investment in two new computers as some of WF’s old ones have become unupdatable. Finally, she explained there would be a shift in the marketing focus from
high profile events to relationship building.
Becky asked if there were any
questions. There were none, so Becky then proceeded to state that she has issues
with Marketing. The shift from a trip to Sundance to SxSW did not feel right with her.
Donna remarked that she spoke to people at SIFF about SxSW who agreed that it
might be a better fit for WF and the budget range of our clients. Abby added that
those who are attending Sundance anyway, like her, could continue to advocate for
WF. Becky continued that she had concerns about the general budget size. At
$611,856 or 17% of $3.5M, she feels it’s still high and would like time to see if there
is “fat” to trim.
Amy voiced concern that she needs a budget approved to proceed
since the program was previously only budgeted through June 30, 2012. Becky
suggested that the board move to approve the budget but allow the board to review
it line by line for possible cuts. Don agreed and moved to approve the budget.
Abby seconded. It was approved unanimously.
Committee Reports:
Executive Committee
Becky reminded the board that the Governor had appointed Craig as the new chair
moving forward and Becky would take over the CVB position. She explained that
this required a shift in the officer’s position. The Executive Committee would like to
advocate that Don become the new Treasurer and Becky would become the
Secretary. Donna James would remain Vice-Chair. Greg moved to approve this shift
in officers. Abby seconded it, and it was approved unanimously.
Becky continued that after reviewing the conflict of interests for the board, she
thought Greg needed to re-submit his conflict of interest to declare the incentive
projects he had worked on.
Becky reminded the board that the Governor needs to appoint an additional board
member to reflect interactive media or the emerging motion picture industry. Becky
said that she believed the Electronic Entertainment group was submitting names to
the Governor for consideration. Norma updated the board on the two possible
candidates she had been speaking with: Paul Mattaheus who is stepping down from
Digital Kitchen and John Vechey from Popcap Games who has a long history in film
and investing in it. Becky urged that candidates should apply in the next month.
She asked the board if they wanted to use the same process they had in the past
where two or more candidates could apply, they could advocate to the Governor
who they’d prefer, but the decision was still solely up to the Governor. The board
agreed indicating they’d like to meet Norma’s candidates. Amy said that she would
follow up with Norma, and Norma would set up coffees for the Board to meet the
potential candidates in person.
Donna asked what happens if a board member invests in a project that may receive
funding assistance. Becky and Amy explained that was one of the reasons the
conflict of interest form was created. Additionally, that board member would have to
recues him or herself from any associated vote.
Amy reminded the board that in the May retreat, the board decided to create new
committees to help reach WF’s goals over the next five year. She continued that the
idea was that the committees would meet on the opposite months of the full board
meetings to keep work moving forward. She referred the board to the list of
committees and descriptions staff drafted and explained that her goal was to
establish a board chair for each committee. Amy walked the board through each
committee: Executive, Fundraising, Advocacy, Community Organization, and
Innovation. Becky asked if everyone was comfortable with the committee structure.
Donna asked if staff would be assigned to each committee and take notes. Amy said
yes. Donna continued that she feels the board should meet monthly or they get
complacent. Becky responded that because of the small size of the board, she feels
board meetings alternating months with committee meetings should be sufficient.
Don wanted to verify that projects would continue to be voted on online, and
conference calls would be scheduled. Amy said yes. Becky suggested setting up a
standing weekly appointment for these calls that could then be disregarded if there
is no need for a call. The board agreed this was a good idea. Early morning was
indicated as the best time, but no day was decided.
Greg asked who made up the
Executive committee. Becky explained that it was the officers. Because Harry and
Craig were not at the meeting, Becky asked Amy to circulate an email for interest in
the various committees rather than decide on committee chairs now. Amy agreed,
adding that her intention was for committee work to begin prior to the August
board meeting. It was decided minutes from committee meeting would be sent out
to the full board.
Fundraising Committee
Amy announced that our 2012 contribution campaign had begun and many
returning contributors had already lined up their contributions. She continued that
there were a few of the larger contributors WF had not yet heard from such as Wave,
the Space Needle, Starbucks, and Microsoft. Norma said that she had spoken with
Rodney at Starbucks and was willing to help coordinate the contribution. Norma just
needed the amount of past contributions and the name of the past contacts to
proceed with Rodney. Becky said that she had spoken to Ron with the Space Needle
who was interested. She would follow up with him. She also stated that Craig and
she would speak with Katie Quigley regarding Microsoft. Becky added that she had
spoken with Howard Cohen, and the Clise Hotels should be contributing soon.
Executive Update:
Status of Current Projects:
Amy quickly went over the status of current projects: WF paid out the last of “21
and Over”. “Touchy Feely” is in review, but has not reached its $500,000 threshold so
they are being allowed to submit three completion packages. “Safety Not
Guaranteed” submitted their post package and it is currently in review, and “You
Can’t Win” has wrapped. Its completion package is expected next week. Amy
continued that “Careful What You Wish For” has changed production dates to
September, however, no other aspects of the application had changed and asked
that the board re-approve the project. Don moved to approve “Careful What You
Wish For”. Donna seconded it. It was approved unanimously.
Amy explained that
“One Square Mile”, which is scheduled to start shooting in August, has raised
additional funds for the project, some of which would be spent in Washington and
has asked the board to consider additional funding assistance for the Washington
portion. Amy continued that staff had considered this request seriously and due to
the fact that the project still has a choice of where to spend funds and this could be
a long-term relationship with the production company, staff is advocating for a 15%
return on the additional spend. Abby moved to support staff’s recommendation.
Greg seconded it. It was approved unanimously.
Implementation of Legislation:
Amy referred the board to the copy of her Power Point from the info sessions in
both Seattle and Spokane that explained all of the changes in the law and program
moving forward. Donna commented that she enjoyed the info session and thought
it was well done.
Amy asked if there were any questions. Donna asked what the
status of switching our fiscal year. Becky said that was yet to be determined. Donna
commented that the community is talking about us being able to raise funds again
in January. Amy continued that she had spoken to Peterson Sullivan about it the
details to formalizing a change. Becky was unsure if she’d want to formalize it. Amy
suggested the board revisit the topic in the August meeting.
Amy directed the board to their copies of the Innovation Lab Full Guidelines and
Criteria, Filmmaker Fact Sheet, and Application that would need a board vote for
approval. Becky stated that she had not had time to review it much as she’d like.
She suggested forming a sub-committee to review the G&C then report the changes
to Amy, who will then send it out to the full board for approval online. Becky, Don,
Donna, & Greg volunteered to form the sub-committee. They said they would get
changes to staff by Wed, 6/20 so that the full board could vote by 6/29.
Amy reported that staff is currently working on revising the full Guidelines and
Criteria and Applications for the Standard program to implement all of the changes
in legislation. She stated would forward a draft to board by the end of the month.
Amy directed the board to review the flow chart staff had created to help illustrate
how WF would interact with production and other government agencies while
implementing the new reporting practices. Amy continued that she had already met
with the Department of Commerce to start the process for changes of the WAC, as
well as the Production Survey. There are additional appointments with JLARC and
the Department of Revenue.
Administration:
Revised Board Meeting Dates:
Amy included revised board meeting dates in the board packet and urged the board
to contact her as soon as possible if there were any conflicts. Becky asked Amy to
look into the program ‘Doodle.’
Save the Date:
Amy stated that the Industry Round Table is scheduled for July 25th at Spitfire, and
that the Renewal Party has been postponed from June to July.
Old Business / New Business:
Donna admitted that she was the only person who voted against the Ford
commercial because it was “regional” and she thought the board had agreed to
focus on national commercials. Abby said she voted for it because it was an out of
state production company and agency and thought they might bring other work in
the future. Greg and Don said that they thought that regional in this case was the
West Coast and not just the Northwest.
Becky adjourned the meeting at 10:05pm.