On February 7, our MCAI board meeting was held at Marie Calendars in Irvine. Everyone is welcome to attend the board meetings which are informal, casual and fun as well as serious at the same time. Our meetings are dinner meetings, and once in a while, if we are lucky, we each get a complementary slice of pie.

 

The meeting began at 7:00 p.m. with John Coleman introducing new members of the national organization. Those who have recently re-joined included Patricia Shanks, Eric Villesvik—who we were happy to have with us that evening, and who did a great job in helping with the Newport Beach film festival last year—as well as voice-over performer,  Janeane Bernstein,

Emmett Kesel gave the treasurer’s report, and our cash balance is $2,239.51. Because of our new policy of charging members $5 at the door (instituted in November of last year) we collected  $95 at the door at our January meeting.  Since our refreshments & Food run about $200 per meeting we were in the black for this meeting only thanks to JVC sponsoring the evening.  The Board thanks Steve Milley at JVC for their sponsorship and hosting us and providing a great short presentation.

 

Our President, John Coleman, said that we need to have new articles for the Blast. He suggested the possibility of promotional articles which members could write to help them plug their businesses while also being great information for viewers. Possibilities included promotional articles about tips and tricks to help grow your business or instructional articles on our website.

 

Grace McKay and Dennis Backer talked about video taping future meetings for our website and perhaps then stripping off the audio for a podcast to be put on the website.

 

Dennis Backer and Media by Design will be sponsoring this month’s meeting which will be held on February 21, at the Bat Yahm Temple in Newport Beach, a popular location for conferences and banquets.  John mentioned that this meeting is a meeting not to be missed because we have three speakers for the evening. Paul Greenwald, MCAI member,  is an attorney and a specialist in entertainment law, and he will be speaking along with Hugh Christensen an expert in taxes and finances relating to freelancers and media businesses. Also speaking will be writer and film producer Jerome Courshon who will discuss the topic, “The Secret to Movie Distribution.”

 

The board voted unanimously to participate in this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival. John also announced the need for volunteers to speak to junior high students at the end of this month. Travis volunteered to speak to the students. Gary Stone and Marcelo Lewin and John Coleman had previously volunteered.  Marcelo will be videotaping the MCAI presentation at McGarvin intermediate school in Westminster on February 23.  We hope to have a short video about it on the web by the end of next month.

 

We also discussed programs for future meetings. John said that we need sponsors and food for the April and June meetings. The March meeting will be held at Gothic Moon studios, Orange County’s largest scenic design and construction house and the April meeting  does not yet have a location or a sponsor. In April, MCAI member Rick Sherman will lead a panel of composers and arrangers who will discuss how music fits in to our media products. In May, the monthly meeting will be held at Video Resources and about new digital camera technology.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:30.

--Submitted by Tina Wilson, chapter Secretary