The credit crunch may be threatening the local auto industry but it's creating opportunity for at least one local film-industry firm. S3 Entertainment Group has created a $10 million financing fund for film productions in Michigan called, surprise, Michigan Film Finance.

The idea is to help filmmakers in need of financing for their projects with the expectation of double-digit returns. So far the Ferndale-based firm is the only company in Michigan providing such financing for filmmakers to take advantage of Michigan's film incentives. S3 is also working with other lenders to originate, process and disburse loans for productions.

The money can be used for a broad range of needs, such as renting film equipment. S3 supplies numerous production services and equipment to filmmakers. It has worked on a number of major films shot locally, such as Gran Torino, The Butterfly Effect 3, Whip It! and Youth in Revolt.

S3's business has taken off since Michigan approved its film incentives. It cuts paychecks to seven people and its subsidiaries employ about 80 more. The plan is to extend its employee base to 200 people by handling 15-20 major films per year.

Source: Meghan Edwards, spokeswoman for S3 Entertainment Group
Writer: Jon Zemke

More and more of California is moving to Michigan to take advantage of the state's generous film incentives.

The latest Cali-based business to set up shop is Cast & Crew Payroll, which just opened an office in Ferndale's Zicor Building. The 2,400-square-foot space in the building on Hilton currently has one person in it.

Cast & Crew Payroll is based in Burbank, California, but has offices throughout the U.S. It handled payroll for major film and TV productions.

Source: Jennifer Roosenberg, marketing and communications manager for GVA Detroit, which owns the Zicor Building
Writer: Jon Zemke

Motor City Interactive is moving on up to the far west side. The Internet marketing company has moved its headquarters to the heart of downtown Brighton to give its expanded staff more room to expand.

The company has grown to five people since its founding in 2001. It expects to add another two employees early next year.

"That's 40 percent growth, which is pretty significant," says Patrick McLaughlin, spokesman for Motor City Interactive.

Motor City Interactive provides digital and Internet-based services, ranging from email marketing campaigns to search-engine optimization strategies. The firm is currently focusing on its "Help You Build" program, which teaches small businesses how to design and create websites.

Among the company's clients are developer Schostak Brothers, HoMedics (a personal care product company) and KissAutoAuction.com.

Source: Patrick McLaughlin, spokesman for Motor City Interactive
Writer: Jon Zemke

Vladimir Gendelman had anything but high expectations for Metal Imagination when he started the metal sculpture website 18 months ago.

The serial entrepreneur already had a number of other businesses working for him, ranging from a graphic design company to an Internet marketing firm. Metal Imagination was going to be more of a hobby, selling items he enjoyed.

"I didn’t think it would make it big," Gendelman says. "I was going to do it just for fun."

The Keego Harbor-based business is a lot of fun this year as sales have spiked. The company sells H & K Metal Sculptures, such as wine gifts.

Sales are up 2,000 percent from last year. That has allowed Gendelman to expand his staff from just himself to four people and an independent contractor. He expects business to triple again next year and add another 2-3 people over that same time.

Most of this success has come from search engine optimization, meaning he generates a lot of his sales from people finding his site through things like Google searches. As Metal Imagination gains more traffic, he expects it to become more popular and surface higher on searches.

"It turned out to be way crazier than I expected," Gendelman says.

Source: Vladimir Gendelman, president of Metal Imagination
Writer: Jon Zemke

When people mention music in the Motor City, a number of images come to mind, ranging from Motown supergroups to sonic thrash of The White Stripes' garage rock to Eminem's fist-pumping hip-hop.

The white (or purple) robes of gospel aren't usually one of musical images associated with the Motor City, but it has been a underrated and all-too-important cog in Michigan's long-time thriving music scene. A new book by a University of Michigan-Dearborn professor dives into that genre and its impact both locally and nationally.

U-M Dearborn English Prof. Deborah Smith Pollard wrote "When the Church Becomes Your Party: Contemporary Gospel Music," which has been named one of this year’s 20 "Michigan Notable Books" by the Library of Michigan.

The book is a collection of essays on topics in gospel music, including praise and worship and the clothing worn by gospel artists. It made the Library of Michigan's annual list because of detail of the state's cultural heritage in gospel music. It's a subject Pollard is well acquainted with since she is the gospel music program on Detroit radio station WJLB-FM.

Source: University of Michigan-Dearborn
Writer: Jon Zemke

Around this time of year, the stress meter rachets up -- and so can the green guilt. Every trip out to a holiday gathering, excursion to the mall or large box shipped by UPS grows your carbon footprint exorbitantly, especially as compared to the rest of the year.

I drove as much Thanksgiving weekend as I had the entire rest of November. It's awful.

So how to tone that down? Last year, Green Space delved into the Three R's, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, and I'd invite you to check out those ideas -- they still ring true in 2008.

But there is a major change for this holiday season as opposed to last: more and more people are watching their wallets. In the spirit of the economy and the environment, then, let's look at a few ideas that celebrate giving and saving.

Gift of time. Who can be more broke than a kid? I remember making gift certificates for family members for hugs and small chores like weeding. Give a grown-up version for Christmas this year: babysitting for your sister and her husband, a formal dinner party (cooked with locally grown-food, of course) for your closest friends or dog-walking services once a week for a good neighbor that's getting up there in age.

Similarly, tickets to a game or a show with your parents create memories that a blender or necktie can never match.

Environmentally-thoughtful gifts. Green Space has talked about 41 Pounds before, and we'll probably do it again -- they're a locally-based company with a great concept. It's simple, you pay them $41 and they get all your junk mail stopped for five years -- an estimated 41 pounds a year. So why not purchase the service for a loved one?

Here's another idea: buy someone you know that is trying to eat locally and healthily a subscription to an organic community-supported agriculture farm. They'll get fresh produce once a week from June to November -- and probably repay you with fabulous meals. Check out Maple Creek Farms, which has been at this for 15 years in the Thumb area.

It's funny, but the embodiment of saving often goes hand in hand with environmental consciousness. And that's a wonderful thought to take into the new year.

On that note, Green Space wishes you a wonderful holiday season. See you in 2009.

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Start-up lightweight hybrid bus manufacturer, Fisher Coachworks, will invest $7 million in three Michigan-based manufacturing facilities and create more than 500 Michigan-based jobs.

The first 50,000 square foot “pilot” facility will be located in Livonia. Two more facilities are expected to come on-line within the next couple of years.

"The thing that really drove us to stay here was the investors, our advisers and the supply base," says Fisher Coachworks Founder and CEO Gregory Fisher.

Fisher Coachworks manufactures hybrid buses that get 10 miles a gallon. Most hybrid bus systems claim 4.5 miles a gallon, Fisher says. An average city bus gets a measly 3 miles a gallon.

"Initially we want to get these to Detroit, Lansing — the Michigan area," Fisher says. "Then to New York and the entire country."

This mass transit hybrid will have a positive impact on the transit system, but will also create jobs — 539, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC).

The MEGA board recently approved an $11.3 million state tax credit for Fisher Coachworks. Fisher Coachworks was also considering a location in Tennessee.

Source: Gregory Fisher, Fisher Coachworks
Writer:  Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Lansing's Capital Gains and can be reached here.

Global Wind Systems is getting a $32.3 million start in Michigan, a five-year investment that positions the wind turbine system manufacturer to be one of the state’s leading alternative energy manufacturers.

"Michigan has the best manufacturing base in North America," says Global Wind Systems President and CEO Chris Long. “No one on this side of the arena can do what we want to do here in Michigan.”

Long and his team were courted by at least 12 other states, but stayed in the region, hoping to capitalize on the region’s abundance of trained auto manufacturing and aerospace talent.

"We’ll create about 350 assembly jobs initially, but thousands of manufacturing-based jobs will be created as a result of this investment," Long says.

A $7.3 million tax credit over nine years handed down by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) MEGA board reinforced Long’s commitment to stay in Michigan.

Global Wind Systems will need more than 2 million square feet of space over the next five years to accommodate parts production. Global Wind Systems will be headquartered in Novi.

The company is expected to sell 39 units a year at a cost of $2.2 million to $2.4 million a year. Production will start in 2009.

"That will open up Michigan to the wind market," Long says.

Source: Chris Long, Global Wind Systems
Writer: Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Lansing's Capital Gains and can be reached here.

After 5 Detroit is expanding, creating another website of a similar name.

Excerpt:

After 5 Detroit has become so successful it's spinning out subsidiaries. The latest addition is Connect After 5, a web site aimed more at businesses than people.

The idea is to help area employers attract and retain young professional talent and boost employee morale by helping organize after work events, like a broomball tournament at Campus Martius for the likes of Compuware, Ernst & Young, Miller Canfield, Health Plan of MI and Marketing Associates.

"We create fun events and opportunities for the employees to engage in outside of company walls," says Kerry Doman, founder & CEO of After 5 Detroit.

Read the rest of the story here.

Detroit Renaissance's venture capital fund is getting the investment ball rolling quickly in Ann Arbor.

Excerpt:

The Renaissance Venture Capital Fund isn't wasting time when it comes to investing in Michigan and bridging the gap between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

The VC, formed by Detroit Renaissance, made its first investment of $5 million into Ann Arbor-based Arboretum Ventures II. Renaissance expects to invest another $10 million to $20 million in 2009. That money will go either toward venture capital firms looking to invest in the state or firms based in Michigan, such as Arboretum.

"It is clearly a fast-rising venture capital firm right now," says Chris Rizik, CEO of the Renaissance Venture Capital Fund. "It is a really smart firm with the right niche. Even with the current economic problems we're finding they are really well positioned to be successful."

Read the rest of the story here.

Alexander Gow, a Wayne State University School of Medicine professor, is pushing forward research into a number of neurodegenerative diseases, such as autism and schizophrenia.

His latest research, published in the Journal of Cell Biology, sheds light on  why these diseases develop and how they might be treated.

It basically breaks down to the white and gray matter in the brain and how they communicate. Those lines of communications that send signals for everything from sneezing to wiggling a toe sometimes fail. Gow's research shows that a leak in the myelin sheath of these communication lines might play a part in developing diseases like autism and schizophrenia.

Although far from a cure, if further research shows this is the case, it could give scientists a big clue on how to treat and possibly prevent such diseases.

Source: Wayne State University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Wayne State is looking to get some more girls from Detroit interested in the STEM subjects - Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

The university's College of Education will kick off the 10th edition of its GO-GIRL program (Gaining Options-Girls Investigate Real Life) in January. The program aims to get more girls interested in science and math subjects. The hope is this will inspire them to pursue careers in these fields.

The free program will be held every Saturday for 10 weeks. It is open only to girls in the 7th grade. For information, contact Prof. Sally Roberts at gogirl@wayne.edu.

The program began in 2002. More than 400 girls from both private and public schools in Detroit have graduated from it. They have enjoyed the high-tech resources of the university and one-on-one tutoring from university mentors.

Source: Wayne State University
Writer: Jon Zemke

Lots of people had lots of advice for Rukmal Fernando when he started Breeze Design Studio in January of 2007.

"Everybody pretty much told me get out of Detroit," Fernando says. "They said I should be in LA, Miami, Chicago or some other market."

Luckily for Metro Detroit Fernando didn't pay any heed to those warnings. He actually was quite active with the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, and paid more attention to what the people there were saying.

"They said don't look at it like an obstacle but an opportunity," Fernando says.

That philosophy is why the start-up has grown to 33 people around the world. About half a dozen of those employees call Breeze Design Studio's offices in Birmingham's Rail District home.

The firm specializes in making good design affordable. Fernando allows young, struggling businesses to take advantage of his firm's services cheaply today to help the firm keep its overhead down. The idea is Breeze Design Studio will get a cut of future profits.

"We think that struggling young businesses will grow if we make good design affordable," Fernando says.

It has worked so far. The company plans to keep up with that philosophy for the foreseeable future and it expects to keep growing at its current pace.

Source: Rukmal Fernando, founder and president of Breeze Design Studio
Writer: Jon Zemke

Pontiac-based pushtwentytwo is still pushing to expand its business in Michigan.

The marketing/PR firm just added another employee, rounding out its staff to 18. The company also has the occasional intern, usually in the summer.

The firm's newest employee will serve as the associate creative director. That new person, Gil Lapastora, is responsible for supervising pushtwentytwo’s creative activities in places like print and digital media.

Pushtwentytwo has steadily grown since it was formed more than 20 years ago. It has grown its client list to a diverse group, ranging from automotive-based clients to healthcare to technology firms.

Source: Christine Fisher, spokeswoman for pushtwentytwo
Writer: Jon Zemke

Iterotext knows which hands feeds it, and it’s grateful. It’s why the translation services firm wants to do something to support the auto industry in its time of need -- spearheading SupportTheAutoIndustry.com.

“We have been successful because of them and we want to help them,” says Beverly Cornell, spokeswoman for SupportTheAutoIndustry.com.

But this is more than the stereotypical "Buy American" campaign. The website is pooling deals and discounts available throughout the auto industry. The idea is to make supporting the American auto companies a win-win for both the company and the customer.

These deals range from local dealerships offering employees pricing to gas stations willing to give away free gas with proof of purchase of a new car. Think of it as more of a customer-based bailout for local businesses.

"We think this can be a grass roots movement," Cornell says.

The website is only one month old but so far traffic is up more than 200 percent and growing.

Source: Beverly Cornell, spokeswoman for Support the Auto Industry
Writer: Jon Zemke

The size of Michigan Suburbs Alliance is growing physically but its office space is expanding virtually.

The non-profit calls a 500-square-foot office in downtown Ferndale home for its eight employees. But that space has become increasingly cramped as the staff has grown, leaving the alliance with a choice – expand or go virtual. It choose to go virtual, expanding its staff's technical capabilities and its office's flexibility.

"We figured out we need to use out office space in a different way than we are right now," says Melanie Piana, associate director of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance. "We already have a second office. It's the Woodward Avenue Brewers."

That's Piana poking fun at the idea of working in a public place, like a coffee shop, bar or library. The alliance has invested in new laptops, video-conference technology and cell phones for staff. The idea is to make the staff flexible enough to work virtually from home or a coffee shop.

It has also invested in furniture that allows the employees to easily rearrange the office to suit it needs to a specific circumstance.

The alliance will let its newest troop of 20 interns work virtually this summer. The interns will work from city halls across Metro Detroit, but keep in touch with the alliance's leaders through the Internet, phone calls and meetings.

Source: Melanie Piana, associate director of the Michigan Suburbs Alliance
Writer: Jon Zemke

The company that is now Great Lakes Recycling completely reinvented itself a little more than two years ago. Since then the Rosseville-based firm, which traces its roots all the way back to 1927, has added about 100 people to its payroll and taken on two new facilities.

GLR recently bought another recycling firm in New York and also opened up a new facility in Flint. The Flint location processes cardboard and paper brought in from waste haulers, recyclers and shred companies. It hopes to expand it operations there, too, as it looks to expand even further.

"We have a few more irons in the fire," says Jim DiMarco, a spokesman for Great Lakes Recycling. "There's another location in Huron Township that is on the horizon."

That could mean another 45 jobs at Great Lakes Recycling.

The company has the only single-stream recycling facility in Michigan. It provides recycling and environmental services throughout the state.

Source: Jim DiMarco, a spokesman for Great Lakes Recycling
Writer: Jon Zemke

The next generation of smart-car scientists will put their latest innovations on display at Lawrence Technological University tonight for the school's mini urban challenge.

Autonomous robots created by advanced high school and college students will navigate an obstacle course starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Buell Management Building on the university's Southfield campus.

The robots are built from the L2Bot platform that was developed at Lawrence Tech. It's part of an intelligent robotics project that is similar to the smart-car technology state and auto manufacturers are currently developing.

Each robot uses an onboard camera as a sensor for a vision guidance software system. This allows the robot to navigate a course made to simulate urban roads with a tunnel. A video of last year's competition can be found here.

The teams represent Romeo Engineering & Technology Center, Cranbrook Schools, a home school group from Bloomfield Township, Berean Academy from Rochester Hills and Lawrence Tech computer science students.

The event will also feature a demonstration of H2Bot, the world's first fuel-cell-powered autonomous robot.

For information, click here or send an email to robofest@ltu.edu or call (248) 204-3569.

Source: Lawrence Technological University
Writer: Jon Zemke

The worlds of energy and art will collide this Saturday when the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association hosts its annual meeting at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

GLREA works primarily in education and advocacy for alternative energy -- their goal is to make such technology "mainstream." The statewide organization has been around since 1991 and is HQ-ed near Lansing. But they're bringing their message to the masses this weekend.

Because Michigan finally adopted a Renewable Portfolio Standard, which calls for 10% of all energy consumed in the state to come from renewable sources by 2015, GLREA is poised to become a real player in the alternative energy industry. Its board is comprised of utility company reps, renewable energy manufacturers and installers, energy efficiency advocates and organizations like the Michigan Energy Office. So, yeah, they're up for the job.

There will be business conducted at the meeting, such as electing board members, and a keynote address by Michigan Public Service Commissioner Monica Martinez about the RPS and other state regulations. It starts at 2 p.m. with some mingling time and is scheduled to wrap up at 4:45 at which time attendees can network and wander the galleries. The cost is $30 for members or $50 for non-members. You can register on-line here.

Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Detroit-based Uplift thinks it has developed a new tool in fighting illiteracy with its Strong Reader program.

Excerpt:

The people behind Uplift don't think all of the kids of today learn to read in the same tried-and-true ways pioneered yesterday. It's why the Detroit-based non-profit came up with its STRONG READER program.

The program lets students learn through an Internet-style computer class. The program includes video lessons, video games, avatars and puzzles.

"When you put kids on the computer you find that they're very tech savy, even though they might not do well in math or science," says Ida Byrd, president of Uplift.

Read the rest of the story here.