Dear Friend of GCFC,

Five years ago, Marvel’s “The Avengers” premiered and became the fifth highest grossing motion picture of all time.

As many of you know, it was filmed in large part right here in Cleveland and surrounding areas. However, some might not know exactly how that all came about.

In early Spring 2011, the film was set to shoot in Detroit, where Michigan’s film incentive and soundstages were already doing huge business. However, the Governor of Michigan had made a statement in which he discussed putting a hold on their state’s film incentive.

Not long after that, I received a call from the producers of “The Avengers.” The Governor’s statement was a concern, as was the sudden uncertainty over their tax incentive. They asked me if I could get on a plane to meet with Marvel in L.A.

I was on the next flight.

The next day I met with Marvel and Disney executives and assured them Cleveland was up to the task of filming one of the biggest and most anticipated movies of all time. I then met with officials from the state to make sure their incentive money would be approved, and with county and city officials in Cleveland to talk about the logistics of shooting a blockbuster.

Whether it was closing down East Ninth Street for a month to film explosions and alien invasions, or turning Public Square into Stuttgart, Germany, Cleveland and its residents stepped up in a big way for their city’s star turn.

We are proud to have been the catalyst for the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Incentive, which allowed us to bring this piece of movie history to Cleveland and work every day to bring to town more media productions, and with them more jobs and economic impact.

Happy Fifth Anniversary to “The Avengers,” and thanks to all of you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Ivan Schwarz
President, Greater Cleveland Film Commission

Welcome to GCFC’s new website, complete with this new thing we’re trying that no one has done before: a blog.

It is our hope that you will join us here periodically for insight into what we do here at GCFC day-to-day, to learn about what’s happening in the local media production industry, meet the people who work in and for that industry (crew members, actors, game developers, business owners and educators, just to name a few), and become generally more involved with the vision of GCFC. For those who don’t know:

The vision of the GCFC is to achieve increased economic development in Northeast Ohio by using the artistic and culturally enriching activities of film and other media production to strengthen the workforce, support the media production industry and attract media production to the region.

We refreshed our website’s look and functionality precisely with you in mind. We wanted the home page to be a center of information for everyone in our community, so that we can empower and engage working and aspiring production professionals, people who want to help bring jobs and economic impact to Northeast Ohio, and even people who might just plain like movies, television, video games or any other sort of entertainment medium that is being made right here in Cleveland.

Take some time to look around. We have some new areas to the site that weren’t here before.

• We’ve added a “Membership” page for our brand new GCFC Membership program.
• Our new “Videos” page will feature testimonials, sizzle reels and other interesting clips that help show our community what GCFC is all about.
• The “Filmed in Cleveland” section has a fresh design, allowing you to browse movie posters and watch trailers for the many films that have come through our fair city.

If it’s not yet apparent, all of this (our blog, our redesign, and our vision) is about you.

From the people on set, to the businesses supporting production.

From students embarking on a career right in their own backyard, to those currently in the workforce looking to start something new.

You are the reason we work every day to bring jobs and economic impact to Northeast Ohio.

Make sure you sign up for updates to this blog and for our newsletter, and please follow us on Twitter (@Cleveland_Film), Facebook (Greater Cleveland Film Commission) and Instagram (@clevelandfilm)!