On Monday afternoon, the newly formed Tampa Hillsborough Film and Digital Media Commission announced a nationwide search for an "experienced industry professional to run the reorganized commission." (If you're interested, you can apply here.)
"We need a real pro, somebody who knows the industry, who knows how to recruit it and how to service it, and how to market the community," said Rick Homans, commission chairman and president/CEO of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation. Homans knows a thing or two about the position, as he worked closely with a film commissioner in New Mexico when he served as secretary of economic development.
"I've got a pretty good idea from the good ones that I've seen about what we're looking for here," he told CL late Monday afternoon. "I think we are a community that's ready to go to the next level and we've got all the assets here … we just need to get on the radar screen, we need to market ourselves, we need to recruit the projects, and we need to expand the vision. Not only feature films, but commercials and digital media and infomercials. Whatever it takes."
This article appears in May 2-8, 2013.