A at University High School, before Matt Sparks signed up. In 1999, when Sparks was a senior there, he joined the class hoping to do what he already loved — shoot film. His love for movies developed at age 8 when his parents bought a movie rental store in Mount Dora.
Movies were his babysitter and soon became his passion. He was disappointed when he realized there was not much filming going on in the classroom so he and a few buddies decided to revamp the class. Soon they were shooting the morning announcements and filming comical skits. “All of a sudden students were knocking on the door asking how they could sign up,” he said.
Sparks then went on to attend film
classes at Valencia Community College,
which was once endorsed by Steven
Spielberg as one of the top “hands-on”
film programs in the country.
With degree in hand, Sparks began
looking for work. He worked on a few
projects but soon learned that Orlando
was home to many actors and producers,
but very few job openings for them.
It became so difficult to find work in Florida that Sparks took a break, working for the state helping victims from hurricanes Wilma and Rita in 2005. “It was difficult to keep my head above water while trying to make films.
Bills and debt got in the way,” he said. “I also wanted to do something useful. It was such an experience seeing what people went through and being able to hook them up with FEMA and grants.“ He spent four months working for the state.
In that time he met his future business partner, Jered Allen. They spent their free time designing a business logo. By the time their stint with the state was over they had a company — Faultline Productions. In the past Sparks has produced local commercials for companies like Starbucks and Heinz 57 and worked on budgets ranging from $10,000 to $7 million. But this week the company is wrapping up a short film, Time to Spare.
Once finished it will be submitted to local film festivals first, including the Indi FilmSlam, Florida Film Festival in Maitland, Tampa’s Brew-haha Film Festival, and the Miami Film Festival. If the film is not accepted, they will send it to international festivals in New York and Canada.
“It is a dark, suspense film about a magician caught in unusual circumstances involving a mob boss and a bowling alley,” he said. “I would like to see it gain some notoriety in the film festivals and have higherups asking for something longer. We have scripts written in case they do.” But Sparks’ bigger dreams are to see more film opportunities in Orlando, where he said there is tremendous untapped talent.
“There is no real networking going on — just a lot of talented people kind of floating around on their own. You will see a post for a job on Craig’s List and it will have 200 reply posts in one day,” he said. Agreeing with him is Carole Ferrill, state president of the Florida Motion Picture & Television Association.
She said local schools like Florida Metropolitan University, Valencia, University of Central Florida and Full Sail are churning out talent, but there is no real professional networking to bring them together and not enough work to keep them here. “No one is interested in helping each other out. That is why the industry in Orlando is so cutthroat.
You have hundreds of people going after the same job if it is widely posted and then you have jobs that no one knows about until they are wrapping up production,” she said. Chandra Leigh, a local actress and producer who worked on Faultline’s Time to Spare, said Orlando remains a good place to gain valuable experience before deciding whether to move on to larger filming hubs like Los Angeles or New York.
Like many local actors, Leigh got her start at Walt Disney World. After graduating from Rollins College, she landed a job as Renee Zellweger’s double in the film Cold Mountain. Shortly after returning from the four-month shoot in Romania, Leigh was offered another job doubling for Christina Ricci in Monster, which was filmed all over Central Florida including spots along South Orange Blossom Trail.
Since then she has worked mainly in locally filmed reality shows and as a producer. “I think Orlando is a great place to start and a great place to continue working if you prefer the independent-film industry,” she said. Many films coming out of Orlando are made at Disney and Universal Studios, but a majority of the work in this area is independent productions.
Ferrill said the future of the film industry in Orlando relies on the coming of a major studio. “Disney and Universal is where a lot of these things are happening, but they are theme parks,” she said. “For awhile it will be up to the independents to keep things flowing, and many of us will have to continue leaving town to work.” One of the main challenges in Orlando is publicity.
Work is being done right under the public’s nose and they still never recognize Orlando as an independent- film hub, Ferrill said. That challenge was eased somewhat when the Florida Legislature passed film incentives a few years ago, offering rebates to films with budgets exceeding $650,000 and additional incentives to films with a P or PG rating.
Last year FMPTA membership grew considerably to 800 members. “Films keep the economy healthy because it creates jobs. It makes sure money is staying here,” Ferrill said. “This is a very lucrative business.” When college hunting, Sparks had his pick of universities around the country. He chose UCF because he wanted to continue filming in Orlando. This is also the reason he plans to submit Time to Spare locally before entering it in other areas.
“I want to bring film to Florida. If home can embrace us, it’s all good,” he said. Sparks and Allen are working to build offices in Orlando and Tampa but this development depends on whether or not they can thrive here. “We want to work here. We are working to make that happen right now.” he said.
