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 BERT HESSE
President, Indievision
By: George MacBain
Today we had the pleasure of hearing from Bert Hesse; President of
Indievision Films Co., a local independent production company Bert
founded in Charlotte in 1997 located on Central Avenue. His friend
Chip Scholz introduced Bert to Charlotte Rotary. A quick bio on Bert
indicates his talents are many. He hailed from Tampa in 1987 to
found tech company Orbitron here in Charlotte, which he later sold
in 1990. After a 2 year stint hanging out in the local public
library (must have gotten hooked on those clever library card
commercials in the mid 90’s) trying to figure his next move, he
founded MedCorp,a medical company which was also later sold in 1995.
Back to the…you guessed it…library for more soul searching and in
1997 came up with his movie company creation. Indievision has
produced 2 films, “Killer” and “Road Kill”, both horror pictures
that have exceeded expectations. Indievision is also in the
marketing business with a Who’s Who list of local clients.
Bert’s film industry research taught him that filmmaking began with
small independent companies like his in the early 1920’s. Beginning
in the 1940’s through the 80’s, the large film companies created
unions and contracted with stars and movie theatre companies, which
essentially shutout the little guy from getting his film distributed
nationally. The end result was that independent film making
declined. Bert attributes the return of the independent to Robert
Redford’s creating of the Sundance Film Festival on his Utah ranch
in the mid 80’s. In more recent times, the advent of the cable
industry, HBO, Cinemax and Block Buster have expanded the
distribution channels for independent films and peaking Bert’s
interest in becoming a part of this expanding industry. Bert
believes Charlotte could be a “gret” place for growth of this
industry if we would just “lighten up and become more accepting of
people that do not work for a financial institution”. Bert stressed
his (economics 101 lesson) point; there are 80 million baby boomers
that are aging and will soon be a drag on the overall economy with
declining wages (due to retiring) and health care needs at the
expense of society. There are just 39 million in the next “X”
generation following. All metro markets in the nation would love to
have/need to have their fair share of this generation to settle in
their markets. Bert’s point is by investing some $$$ into this
industry locally may be a proactive step to attract our share!
Their newest movie, “Cold Chill”, being shot on the grounds of the
old Stonewall Jackson School just outside Concord, is to start
production next month. This horror thriller is about a terrible fire
that occurred in the 70’s and the professor who started the fire has
a daughter who comes back trying to clear the family name. Well,
it’s pretty spooky and Bert promised a sneak Rotary preview when its
all done in 12 months………had ya going!!
Quick facts from Bert: current feature film costs average $55
million per film and $25 million to market for an average total cost
of $75 million. The average independent is less than $5 million with
none exceeding $10 million. Bert chose horror films as they are the
highest grossing sect of the industry, attract the widest audience
ages of 18-34 years old, and are the easiest to translate into other
languages. The years 2001 and 2002 were record years at the box
office and 2003 could top both of them again as movie companies are
spreading their pictures throughout the year and they all create
additional revenue from the rental and purchase market. Bert is in
this business for 3 reasons; its fun, the money and the money!
Head Table:
Andy Zoutewelle, Chip Scholz, Dale
LeCount, Tom Robertson, Robert Freeman, Tom Burgess; Invocation:
Matt Joyner
Visitors and
Guests:
Lee Morris; Health & Happiness: Phi Van Hoy; Song: Tim Newman
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NEW MEMBER BALLOT |
| The
Classification and Membership Committee recommend and the
Directors approve for consideration for all members, the
following NEW MEMBER. Should you question the eligibility of any
nominee, please call the Rotary Office by January 21st.
You will be contacted by a member of the Board. Otherwise, no
reply is necessary and election will proceed according to our
bylaws. |
|
Christopher Todd Stevens (Todd)
W. B. Moore Company of Charlotte, Inc.
Classification: Electrical Contractor
Proposed: Russell Ranson
Endorsers: Katie Tyler and David Anderson |
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2003-04
RI
Theme
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z Tim
Newman – way to go with singing our National Anthem.
You’re headed straight for the Music Committee.
z
The schedule for this year’s Habitat
for Humanity project is on the club website. Go to
www.charlotterotary.org, select Habitat 2004
and review the task and dates. Enter your name and the date you
wish to volunteer. An email will be sent to the Rotary Office
and the schedule will be updated daily. Questions may be
directed to Ken Samuelson.
z
Everyone is encouraged to make plans to attend the
2004 District Conference, April
16-18 at the Radisson Plaza Hotel in Myrtle Beach. District
Governor Bill would like to have 1,000 attendees. Registration
forms are available in the Rotary Office.
z
Following is a note received from a friend that you may enjoy
reading: “I don’t know about you, but it’s hard to believe that
the year 2003 is behind us. As I gaze into the rear-view mirror
of life and watch 2003 fade into the distance, I’m left with
many conflicting thoughts and memories; grand accomplishments
and miserable failures; uncontrollable laughter and bitter
sadness; and a sense of satisfaction for goals achieved, coupled
with the nagging feeling I could have done more.”
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THE ROTARY
FOUNDATION |
The Rotary Foundation has two main streams of
activity: programs and fundraising. Fundraising directly feeds
program activities. The programs of The Rotary Foundation fall
into three main categories: Educational Programs, which fund
Ambassadorial Scholarships and cultural exchanges; Humanitarian
Programs, which fund a wide variety of grant programs to assist
people in developing countries; and PolioPlus, Rotary's
worldwide effort to eradicate the poliomyelitis virus. The
fundraising efforts fall into two main categories: The Annual
Programs Fund, which supplies monies for the Educational and
Humanitarian programs; and the Permanent Fund, which is Rotary's
endowment — a fund whose principal is never spent and investment
earnings are channeled into programs. The PolioPlus program is
funded through a separate PolioPlus Fund.
Rotarians recognize that without sustained support of the Annual
Programs Fund, the programs of The Rotary Foundation cannot
happen. With contributions of $100
from every member every year, Rotary could nearly
double its efforts to help needy people the world over,
supporting the continued growth of programs. Members of
Charlotte Rotary have the option of pledging support to The
Rotary Foundation on a quarterly basis or on your birthday. Out
of 325 members, 67 participate in a birthday pledge and 96
members are billed quarterly. This brings the annual
contribution of the largest club in the District to $21,163.
In 2002-2003 the total contribution from District 7680 was
$387,677 – which breaks down to $192,000 for Polio Eradication
and $195,677 in pledges. That’s an annual gift of $55.23 per
Rotarian. Every member of this club is urged to support The
Foundation. Contact the Rotary Office for enrollment
information. |
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Attendance
Record |
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1/13/04 |
1/14/03 |
| visitors &
guests |
13 |
12 |
| club
members |
198 |
181 |
| total
attendance |
211 |
193 |
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Wedding
Anniversaries |
21 Hunter and Jamie
McLawhorn
23 Beth and Mike Whitehead
26 Pepper and Steve Byrum |
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New
Members | Resignations |
Alan Adler
Mary John Dye |
John Luby
Townley Moon |
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| Birthdays and
Birthplaces |
20 Fred
Brown, Statesville, NC
20 Tony Zeiss, Nobelsville, IN
24 Benton Bragg, Charlotte, NC
24 Chase Saunders, Charlotte, NC |
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