Move to film jobs hinges on training

Nathan Hurst / The Detroit News

Burbank, Calif. --It's 10:30 a.m. and sound engineer Ian Nyeste has roughly two hours to perfect the bubbly, under-the-sea sounds for an upcoming episode of Nickelodeon's hit cartoon "SpongeBob SquarePants" before network executives come to hear what they've paid for.

Down the hall, sound effects editor Brian Magrum is perfecting the ricochet sounds that'll accompany bullets flying from a gun held by actor Val Kilmer in the upcoming flick "Fake Identity."

And in another soundproof room, Humberto Amor and Todd Brodie make sure the Spanish language dub for the reality show "Jesse James is a Dead Man" syncs as well as it can with the moving mouths of English-speaking actors.

This is a typical workday at Oracle Post, the post-production powerhouse. The studio's suspender-clad owner, Michigan native Jimmy Lifton, plans to create thousands of jobs just like these at Unity Studios, a sprawling production facility slated to open this fall in a defunct Visteon plant in Allen Park.

Thousands more are expected to crop up at other studios scheduled to open in Pontiac and Detroit in upcoming months as well.

These are the jobs that make the entertainment industry tick. While many think of stars surrounded by bright lights and camera lenses when they hear "Hollywood," Lifton said most of the work done in Tinseltown just isn't that glamorous.

Creative, perhaps. But not easy.

"We're talking 12- and 14-hour days, tight deadlines, demanding clients," Lifton said. "Getting work is based on your reputation."

Lifton and others who are lobbying to bring film jobs to Michigan are focusing efforts on retraining thousands of workers in the state from manufacturing to moviemaking.

But it won't happen without training.

At Unity Studios, a key component will be the Lifton Institute for Media Skills, which will offer classes aimed at turning autoworkers into on-set crew members or post-production technical specialists who put the finishing touches on films and television shows. Motown Motion Picture Studios, the state's other big pending project, will have an educational component as well.

And just this month, the Southfield-based Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts announced it would start seven- and eight-week workshops to retrain workers for the thousands of film jobs slated to come to the Great Lakes State over the next couple of years.

Competition will be stiff. Unity Studios has received more than 15,000 applications, many from out-of-work Michiganians. In total, Unity expects to employ roughly 3,000, but not until the facility is in full swing. That's a few years off, though the first phase is set for completion this fall.

Then, the first round of out-of-work Michiganians will start retraining to become sound editors; lighting, electrical and rigging assistants; key grips; and a host of other job titles.

And though the work will take some getting used to, there is a certain appeal that only the film industry can provide.

"There's a romantic notion about working on a movie," said Jim Presnal, interim director of the Lifton Institute, addressing a crowd of Hollywood hopefuls gathered for a recent job training information session in Allen Park. "You get to take your family to the theater and see your name scrolling by on the credits ... but this is a different way of life than what you're used to."