Film School to Team Up with New Florida Digital Studio

The Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts , better known to most as The Film School, today announced that it has agreed to terms that propose an educational partnership with a company that plans to build a large-scale digital production studio in Florida.

Frank Patterson, dean of the nationally renowned Film School, said that the university executed a letter of intent with John Textor, chairman of Wyndcrest Holdings LLC, a technology-focused private holding company whose affiliate was recently awarded an economic development grant by the state of Florida. The grant will facilitate the construction of a large-scale digital production studio and the creation of hundreds of new jobs for Floridians.

Florida State is eager to create the partnership, Patterson said, because “the professionals we are talking to in this relationship are some of the most important leaders in the film and digital industries. The direction they plan to take with the new studio in the development of innovative technologies and storytelling techniques is directly in line with the educational goals of The Film School. It’s a perfect match.”

Textor, a 40-year resident of Florida, is no stranger to the digital film industry. In addition to Wyndcrest Holdings, he also serves as chairman of Digital Domain, a California-based corporation and one of Hollywood’s most accomplished and lauded visual effects companies. Responsible for visual effects in such films as “Titanic,” “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Transformers,” Digital Domain has earned numerous Academy Awards for its creative and technical accomplishments, including last year’s Oscar for Best Visual Effects. This most recent award recognized the company’s groundbreaking animation in its creation of a synthetic human character that shared the lead actor role in a performance driven by Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

While both parties still are working on the details of the partnership, Patterson said that discussions have centered on finding ways to collaborate on the research and development of new storytelling tools, and to implement innovative curricula that will give students unique learning opportunities in digital filmmaking.

Textor said he and his colleagues set their sights on Florida State University for one main reason: “Their Film School graduates are excellent storytellers, and story is the key to our business.

“Floridians just now seem to be learning what leading filmmakers already know -- that the quality of the FSU Film School’s creative work is among the very best in the country,” he said.

Since The Film School was created in 1989, Florida State film students have won more than 800 national and international recognitions at festivals and screenings around the world. Over the past five years alone, Film School students have won five Student Oscars and six Student Emmys.

In the proposed partnership, The Film School will have educational programs and a facility collocated with the new digital studio and will serve as the studio’s liaison to Florida’s many educational institutions throughout the state. One of the first connections the partnership is likely to forge is with Indian River State College, located in St. Lucie County, which is also the proposed location for Wyndcrest’s planned digital production studio. Patterson recently met with Indian River President Edwin R. Massey to tour its Fort Pierce campus and visit the newly established Digital Media Institute.

“Dr. Massey and his colleagues have excellent digital education facilities and enjoy faculty and students who have great energy,” Patterson said. “The Digital Media Institute at Indian River State College is a smart place for us to begin our educational relationships in digital media.”