Hey kid, Did you know I was there when JAFTA started?
Wouldn’t that be cool? Imagine me one day as a grizzled, greying but still amazingly fit for his age industry veteran speaking to some starry-eyed future Jamaican filmmaker. Extolling to him the virtues how a coming together of the industry lead the way into an era of great Jamaican films and filmmakers.
I may be embellishing on some things (grey hair? me?) but the truth is having a unified front for the Jamaican film industry is such a crucial step in the development of a something that for all intents has can only loosely hold the title of “industry” into an Industry with a capital I.
The turn out for this first meeting was truly incredible. Forcing its relocation from a small meeting room to a significantly larger one a few floors up. The meeting itself was rather concise for one of its importance, the goal, consensus.
“Do we need this kind of organization?”
“YES”
“What do we name it?”
The discussion was fairly spirited surrounding this. Was the name inclusive enough? Was it recognizing that motion pictures go beyond simply “Film and Television”. I even invited that maybe we should make it inclusive slightly beyond that to live production (we decided to focus on just recorded stuff from now but perhaps I will write more on co-operation between these fields). Eventually we decided that Film and Television were more representative names for what we do rather than precise mediums and thus JAFTA — The Jamaica Film and Television Association was named.
The concept of an industry association is not a new one. During my transition to the Motion Picture Arts, I sat at the first meeting of a revived Jamaica Film Producers Association (JFPA) meeting. Unfortunately, as was relayed in the meeting, this association met a similar fate to its predecessor and was more or less dormant by the time of the meeting. From those “ashes” however JAFTA will be formed, converting the current JFPA into a brand spanking new organization.
Will JAFTA meet the same fate? Only time will tell but JAFTA is fundementally different. Firstly, it will not be an association of businesses but one of individuals. The truth is while there are businesses in the industry, globally it is one of individuals with a range of skills coming together to create. Secondly, JAFTA will be a more inclusive organization, everyone involved in the industry, from “driver to director” will be invited to be a part of it.
The meeting itself concluded at a fairly early 6:05pm after a quick presentation from the Greater August Town Film Festival (GATTFEST). JAMPRO (who operate the Film Commission in Jamaica) did show up moments after the official adjornment but that may be a story for another time.
The key thing to me was the registration forms the passed around. On the second page they asked us to list 5 things we wanted to see from the proposed JAFTA. Here is the top of my list.
Benefits
We need a reason to get together and STAY together. An organization like JAFTA can develop resources to provide industry players who may not be part of larger companies things like access to affordable health insurance plans, pension and unemployment benefits. There are many things buried in legislation or that legislation needs to be created for. With an organization like JAFTA the industry can now have a strong presence with the government to exploit what is there and create what is missing.
Industry Advocacy
One thing I have discovered from having parents who are very involved in their fields is that the Government, despite the perception to the contrary, is interested and to some extent does care. However the reality of the situation is that you need to let them know you exist. It is not enough to go to them simply when a problem has become a problem. We as an industry need a strong and sustained presence that can go to the Government as one and develop with them the legislative tools that we need to thrive.
OSHA
If we are trying to create an industry of an international caliber we need to create an environment that promotes the best practices. Health and Safety is central to this. The Government itself is bringing online Occupational Health and Safety legislation and we need to ensure that our industry is compliant with this. The time for the wild west nature of how we do productions is going to come to an end. We should not need to have our own Sarah Jones before we address this.
Training
Education and Continuing Education are key to the sustainability of any industry. We have to ensure that we are both keeping our local crews on the bleeding edge of what is out there but to also keep bringing in new blood. New Blood that needs the proper education and training. Not just in the ways of operating on set but also in communication and business skills necessary to become contributing members to the growth of the industry and JAFTA.
Industry Recognition
This is an expectation that has two components. The first is to begin to clearly deliniate production roles. To ensure that there are basic guidelines so that people know what the differing jobs do and that employers clearly recognize these different roles. While we all are jacks-of-all-trades due to the realities of the industry, being properly credited will ensure things such as fair payment and exportability. It is easier to show a producer abroad an exact title rather than saying “I worked on costumes” or something similar. Which segues into the second half which is the need for industry recognition. If we want Jamaican Filmmakers to take off and truly allow the world class talent that is here to take the front stage there needs to be some sort of industry recognition. This serves to make it easier for Jamaican Filmmakers of all roles to get the necessary travel documents to break into larger markets (O Visa) as well as providing a platform for publicity to highlight talent and the industry on a whole.
This is by no means all of what I am expecting from this organization in the future but these are definitely some of the things I hope to see it tackle as it gets going. JAFTA is yet another huge step for the Jamaican Film Industry and I hope to be able to contribute to it for a long time to come.
I would definitely like to hear from others in the Jamaican Film Industry who may not have had the meeting what they expect from the organization and also question about it. I can leverage this article and platform and take these questions and suggestions into future meetings.
Edit: I realize I didn’t make it clear that I want everyone involved in the Jamaican Film Industry to become a part of this. If you are able to become involved. As more information comes I will follow this article up.
