University of Michigan graduate describes trials, triumphs in state's burgeoning film industry

Geoff Chiles graduated from the University of Michigan in May 2009. Since then, he's been trying to break into the state's film industry.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

"We cannot turn back," Gov. Jennifer Granholm said in a state of the state address this year.  "Diversifying our economy, educating our people, and protecting them along the way - this is the path forward."

Chiles says he was excited to get on that path.

The Jackson native, who now lives in Ann Arbor, had a freshly-minted degree from the University of Michigan in film and English when he set out to make a career for himself in the spring of 2009. 

His goal: to be a screenwriter. But he was willing to take anything the industry offered and says he was excited to get started.

Today, Chiles describes the past year as one “with extreme highs and lows.”

After graduation, he moved home to Jackson and saved cash for four months before heading to Los Angeles.

He sent out hundreds of resumes. He got a job at Toys R Us.

“Obviously, no one ever thinks coming out of college you’ll have to work a job like that,” he said. “I had no choice. A lot of people have no choice. But I came to terms with the way the economy is. I had no real other options, so I had to do it. You work so hard, you go to a Big Ten University and you think everything is going to be OK. When it isn’t, it is disappointing.”

The film industry in Los Angeles was experiencing hard times, too, he said, with competition from generous tax rebates elsewhere draining business. Enticing tax rebates are fueling Michigan's burgeoning film industry and helping to diversify the economy - but Michigan's gain has been part of California's problem. The Michigan Film Office lists more than 40 movie productions completed in 2009, while dozens more have been in production this year.

What Chiles discovered in California surprised him.

“A lot of people are moving to Michigan with the film incentives,” he said.

Chiles returned to Michigan after his seasonal job at Toys R Us dried up. He moved back in with his parents and got a job at a hotel in Ann Arbor, where he stayed until last May.

While he recognized a foray into the creative realm wouldn’t be easy, he said he didn’t realize on graduation day it would be quite that hard.

“I guess I should have expected it,” he said.

Chiles is no stranger to challenges. Born three months premature, the 23-year-old said doctors at the University of Michigan Health System saved his life. He was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that affects muscle control. He has a slight limp, but was lucky not to be impacted mentally, he said.

“They saved my life,” he said. “It made me a lifelong Michigan fan. I’m lucky to be here because of U-M.”

From a young age, he set his sights on attending U-M and achieved that goal.

During a school break, he had a summer internship at a New York City-based foreign film distributor, paying for living expenses by cashing in mature bonds his grandmother had given him. He also worked as an extra in Conviction, a movie starring Hilary Swank filmed on the U-M campus in 2009.

Today, he’s working harder than he did for any school exam.

An $8-per-hour internship at a Troy-based production company a year after graduation meant things were looking up - even if he mostly assisted on wedding shoots and did office work.

Over the year, Chiles found the hundreds of resumes he sent haven’t gotten him too far. But he said he’s learned to rely on his own connections - and those are starting to pay off.

A “mom’s co-worker’s daughter” helped him get a gig as a production assistant on the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment cop movie, “Street Kings 2,” which is filming in Detroit this summer.

At the same time, another U-M alumni put him in touch with MTV, which is filming for an episode of “Teen Mom” in Port Huron. He works for them on an on-call basis.

“Whenever they call me, I’m like ‘Hell, yeah I can work!’” he said.

At jobs like these, Chiles networks with everyone on set, hoping to spin a friendly relationship into future work. He keeps in touch via LinkedIn, Facebook and the U-M alumni networking tool inCircle.

Chiles said things are starting to look up.

Staying in Michigan is a possibility, but not a certainty. He's worried the state’s next administration will kill or reduce the 42 percent tax incentive for films and hurt job prospects for the creatively-inclined in Michigan.

“I think film will blossom in Michigan,” he said. “But we’re still sort of building the infrastructure, retraining those who were displaced.”

“If we show Hollywood we’re serious, it’s going to stay.”

Breaking into Michigan’s film industry - and just getting by - have been trying since graduation day. But he said he remains positive.

“It’s a challenge that probably made me a better person,” Chiles said.

Juliana Keeping is a higher education reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528. Follow Juliana Keeping on Twitter