Emmy Winning Writer Becomes Cleveland Film Czar

Alex P. Michaels of Prelude2Cinema is acting as Cleveland's Film Czar to promote indie filmmaking and also bring more movies into the city.

Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) November 24, 2005 -- Emmy winning writer and indie filmmaker Alex P. Michaels will be acting as Cleveland’s first Film Czar. It is a position Alex has thrust himself into because he is not satisfied with the “powers that be” not being supportive of the local community and that Cleveland does not do as much as it can do to promote filmmaking here. While it is true that over $30 million dollars has been pumped into the economy by the current Film Commission over eight years, last year alone the independent movie industry made $1 billion from the sales of DVD and VHS movie alone.

Being involved in independent films in Cleveland and shooting a TV Series based on his Emmy winning movie, Alex has a unique perspective on how to bring movies to the region and also how to support the filmmaking community. Ironically a few years ago, Alex “divorced” himself from the film community to work on building connections with the business community and work on a proposal that is being shopped around to bring about an incubator that will serve the local community and draw in productions.

Alex has also worked hard creatively, bringing his TV Series “Out of Darkness” to a national market. The sexy, sci-fi cop drama has local talent and showed this past August and September nationally on the Dish network. Other episodes are being edited and the show will air again in January 2006. Alex has a small studio that he is using for the TV Series and business partners of his have a mansion that he is able to use for production shoots and as lodging for incoming stars.

Being Cleveland Film Czar is part of Alex’s larger goal of making Cleveland live up to its’ potential and be a true part of the movie and TV industry. Although he is talking to people in City Hall, he doesn’t expect the Film Czar to be a political office. As Cleveland Film Czar, he will work with the current administration and any other organization that is dedicated to bringing more jobs to the region through the film industry.

The Office of the Film Czar will take a different agenda than that of the current Film Commission and hopes to compliment the job it has been doing. Alex was an extra in two of the movies, the commission helped to bring to town and though he hasn’t directly received any help from them, he knows it is because he hasn’t reached “Hollywood status” in their eyes.

Personally Alex says he would like to stay out of the politics of things, but after a series of recent meetings with members of the Cleveland business community and those in the press, he knew that if he truly wanted to make movies and TV in the city, he’d have to jump into the place where he could do the most good not just for himself, but for the other members of the filmmaking community.

As Cleveland’s Film Czar, Alex will be focusing on getting his TV Series into national markets, building the incubator and supporting local and incoming productions. When Alex P. Michaels did his interactive show at Cleveland Public Theatre in January 2004, called “The M.A.N.,” Angle magazine writer and playwright Linda Eisenstein called Alex “a tireless force for indie film in Cleveland.” Only time will tell if Cleveland’s Film Czar is indeed tireless…

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