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Everybody wants Miami to be the next Hollywood (and we don’t mean that city in Broward). Wouldn’t it be grand to have major productions like Rock of Ages consistently pick the Magic City to film, and not just once every half decade. Instead of having a couple of shows based here like Burn Notice or Charlie’s Angels, there should be a waiting list to film in Miami.
But that hasn’t happened. And sometimes we wonder why? And then we remember where we live and are painfully reminded that for all its promise Miami consistently disappoints. Cue Rob Feldman.
Feldman, the recently hired City of Miami Film Industry Liaison whose job it is to serve as a middleman between studios and Miami’s film community, quit his post less than two months after taking it. And on the way out he gave us a pretty clear reason why he thinks we’re still a minor league player in major motion pictures. Feldman left behind a scathing resignation letter, basically tearing the city a new asshole.
Read on to see what he wrote.
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We know Miami is a banana republic, rife with nepotism and dirty
politics. But we weren’t aware those characteristics also defined our
fledgling film scene. First reported by Channel 10, Feldman’s
resignation letter cites a myriad of problems he encountered immediately
after taking the position, not the least of which was the culture of
government in the City of Miami. But don’t take our word for it, listen
to Rob.
At the end of the day, this is about politics: the same tiresome,
dysfunctional, paralyzing politics that have plagued the City of Miami
for years; the same self defeating culture in which politics almost
always trumps professionalism.
From the get go, Feldman, who was a producer and filmmaker for 25 years before becoming a production executive with Sony Pictures Television, says he felt manipulated.
I believe the blatant attempts to politicize my job have created a
hostile work environment for me. I also believe that the circumstances
surrounding my hiring were riddled with misrepresentations, a lack of
transparency, and forthrightness and bad faith negotiations.
Among his complaints were an apparent attempt to have Feldman push the
Miami Entertainment Complex (MEC) over other venues or even parts of
town, regardless of merit.
Additionally, the document I was pressured to sign even specified what I
would say about the MEC! Yet I was never given any reasonable
opportunity to conduct even the most basic due diligence in order to
assess the viability of the MEC.
Not for nothing, but we told you the MEC might be a boondoggle right
about the time Feldman was hired, with only the city’s ignominious past as logic.
Check out the rest of the letter below. And next time you go thinking
Miami is headed for superstardom in the movie biz, think twice.
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