Implications for Film Commissions

With a radical new order forming in the global economy, pressure is being placed on communities in the developing world to change the way in which they traditionally look at economic development initiatives. Economic developers and Chambers of Commerce once recruited large, intensive industries that employ thousands of people. However, this approach has changed dramatically over the last 10 years. The development of film commissions for the film industry has been a response to communities seeking to gain new economic opportunities.

The distinguishing characteristic of the creative class is that its members engage in work whose function is to “create meaningful new forms.” The super- creative core of this new class includes scientists and engineers, university professors, poets and novelists, artists, entertainers, actors, designers, and architects, as well as the “thought leadership” of modern society: nonfiction writers, editors, cultural figures, think-tank researchers, analysts, and other opinion-makers. Members of this super-creative core produce new forms or designs that are readily transferable and broadly useful—such as designing a product that can be widely made, sold and used; coming up with a theorem or strategy that can be applied in many cases, or composing music that can be performed again and again.”

The rise of the film industry is clearly included in what Florida was writing about, suggesting that communities that embrace these kinds of creative industries will economically outperform those that do not.