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Gerbes guides Maryland Film Office through evolving mission

For more than 16 years, Jack Gerbes has worked in the Maryland Film Office to entice film productions to the state. He started in the office as a location scout, became deputy director in the mid-nineties, and was named director in 2001.

Filming in Maryland is still a focal point of the office. During the past decade, the film industry pumped $800 million into the state economy, Gerbes says. Still, other pursuits have emerged. "We're evolving," Gerbes says, "we're bringing more people into the tent."

For instance, the film office – a part of Maryland's Division of Tourism, Film and the Arts (TFA) – is leading an effort to blend traditional filmmaking with new media and digital technology into a well-connected statewide industry.

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Less than a month ago, TFA hosted a meeting in which guests from digitally-driven sectors of Maryland's creative economy convened with state officials to discuss how the various members of what Gerber refers to as DEEM – digital, entertainment and emerging media – can coordinate and advance their enterprises. A follow-up meeting, he says, will be scheduled early in 2009.

"We're taking an inventory of this industry," Gerbes says. "The meeting allowed everyone to network. People in education, gaming, studio and audio recording, e-commerce, web design and economic development had an opportunity to meet one another and begin discussing how they could all work together. We're developing a creative consortium in the state."

Grants for film festivals

The film office is also planning to administer a grant program for new and emerging film festivals in the state. "These festivals drive cultural tourism," Gerbes says, "and that generates economic impact." In addition to the major festivals in the state – Maryland Film Festival and Silverdocs – there are 20 to 25 others, such as the Baltimore Women's Film Festival and Talbot County's Chesapeake Film Festival, which the film office has on its radar.

Jed Dietz, director of the Maryland Film Festival, has known Gerbes for at least a dozen years. "Running a film office looks glamorous," Dietz says, "but has got to be one of the toughest jobs around – the egos come at you fast and from all directions, and a lot is always at stake. So the needle-threading is intense and requires great skill. Jack is revered in the production community. Maryland is lucky to have him."

Gerbes says two thoughts come to mind when he considers what he has enjoyed most during his tenure at the film office. First, he says, is working with the film companies that come to Maryland. "Going out on the set, seeing hundreds of people from the state involved in the production – and knowing that you had a part in that – is really satisfying," he says.

He also enjoys watching movies in the theater – especially his favorites – and knowing the story behind certain scenes. When Enemy of the State, a 1998 thriller starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman was filmed in Baltimore, he recalls, the director, Tony Scott, wanted to stage a car chase in a tunnel. Gerbes had suggested using a service tunnel below the Fort McHenry Tunnel in East Baltimore.

The space and shape of the tunnel was ideal, he says. However, it was only accessible through a flight of stairs and small elevator. To use the sub-tunnel, the production crew had to break up the cars that would be used for the scene into pieces that could fit through a doorway, and then re-assemble them in the tunnel.

Re-writing the script

Ladder 49, released in fall 2004 and starring Joaquin Phoenix and John Travolta, was another example of Gerbes offering a viable solution. "We got the studio to re-write the script to blow up a Baltimore warehouse in it, instead of a New York City department store," he says.

Jay Russell, Ladder 49's director, said in a 2005 interview with Baltimore magazine: "Jack is the primary reason we shot in Baltimore. It was a tall order to ask of a city – let us come in and burn down a lot of buildings cheaply – but his creative plan outdid Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto."

When it comes to naming his top movie people to work with, Gerbes quickly mentions John Waters, the native-Baltimore filmmaker. "He's so loyal to the film industry in Maryland," Gerbes says, recalling that he first met Waters during the production of Serial Mom, which was released in 1994. Gerbes and his predecessor at the Maryland Film Office, Michael Styer, were cast as extras in Cecil B. Demented, a 2000 Waters film that incorporates the film office in the movie.

Like most endeavors in business, building relationships is essential for success in the film industry, Gerbes says. "And, we've demonstrated that Maryland is a film-friendly place. The capability of our technical people, the willingness of business and government to accommodate filmmakers, and our desire to out-scout and out-hustle the competition – it's all contributed to our reputation," he says. "As a result, we've gotten a lot of repeat business."