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Front Row Seat: Catalyst Content Festival showcases Minnesota film, TV scene

Last week's Catalyst Content Festival convened independent television creators and industry professionals from across the country, but shone a special spotlight on the Northland.

Flyer labeled STACKABLE INCENTIVES IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA with color-coded state map. On table beneath is state road map, with Northland regions outlined in marker.
The Upper Midwest Film Office's table at the Catalyst Content Festival featured information on production incentives.
Jay Gabler / Duluth News Tribune

DULUTH — It's hard to confuse Superior Street with Hollywood Boulevard, but during the annual Catalyst Content Festival on Friday, Sept. 30, you could get halfway there if you just squinted a little.

At Duluth's Best Bread, horn-rims and skintight designer pants outnumbered Crocs and Carhartts. "Is it just bread?" asked one visitor, peering at the display case. "If it's just bread, I can't do it."

On the Fitger's patio, laptops and lanyards were out, creators intently tapping away as the morning sun slanted over Lake Superior.

Two men wearing black suits strode briskly through the Zeitgeist lobby. One was wearing sunglasses, indoors. "You still have hair," he said to the other. "And good hair!"

It was my first Catalyst festival. Unfortunately, given other demands, I was only able to attend for about a half-day, but that was enough to open my eyes to the breadth of the event. Based in Duluth since 2019, Catalyst is now part of the newly designated North Star Story Summit.

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At 310 E. Superior St., the first floor had been turned into a lounge that was buzzing with vendors, sponsors and attendees. Badge holders browsed the program as they snacked on treats from the Duluth Candy Co., Yellow Bike Coffee and other local brands.

At the front of the lounge, Upper Midwest Film Office staff stood waiting with a Minnesota map; Northland areas offering film production incentives were outlined. At the back, WDSE/WRPT staff conducted interviews. Other people tabling at the lounge included the Duluthians behind Blue Fractal, a company that organizes retreats and expeditions for TV creators.

In June 2023, Blue Fractal is offering a "TV creator boot camp" in Portugal with Jason Kyle and Lee Aronsohn, who were both in Duluth last week for a Catalyst panel and workshops they offered through their Creators Writing Room series.

"The lake is beautiful; the weather is crisp," said Aronsohn when we spoke by phone Wednesday. "I'm acclimated to L.A., so anything under 70 degrees is freezing, but I'm surviving."

A TV veteran best known as co-creator of "Two and a Half Men," Aronsohn said he's "blown away" by the extent of independent production in the industry today.

"It's going to be bigger," he said about the kind of independent TV that comes up through Catalyst. "The pie doesn't really get bigger, but it's getting sliced into more pieces."

At Fitger's mall, attendees paused in the hallways to catch up between panels and showcases. On Friday morning, I stopped by the August Fitger Room to watch a table read: Californians Megen Musegades (a UMD alumna) and Jenna Reilly are developing a TV show based on their popular podcast "Mars 2060."

Several actors sat around a table, reading for various characters in a scene where Mars colonists discover indications that they're not the first sentient visitors to the Red Planet. Based on the number of questions about what was going to happen next, Musegades and Reilly seemed to have listeners hooked. Like other creators at the festival, they were hoping to attract interest from industry professionals who could help turn their show into reality.

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A sidewalk bears painted red-patterned insignia, each bearing a different show title in black. The nearest says MT. MYSTIC RANGERS. More lead forward in a path.
Shows featured at the 2022 Catalyst Content Festival were highlighted via Superior Street sidewalk painting.
Jay Gabler / Duluth News Tribune

I then walked over to Zeitgeist, where I caught a showcase of clips from Minnesota filmmakers. A few were present for a subsequent discussion, where they emphasized the state's strengths as a site for independent production. "We have a very beautiful state," said Mohamed Sheikh. "You don't need to go far to get the location you want."

Gregory Yang, who's currently living in Los Angeles for his work as an actor, said that each of his projects as a filmmaker has been based in Minnesota. "The resources are here. We have the people, the stories and the talent to tell these stories," he said. Yang, who is Hmong American, also pointed to the state's diversity.

"There's a lot of stories that need to be told of minority groups," said Yang. "You don't have to be from these large coastal hubs, like Los Angeles or New York. We have refugees here in the Midwest."

Later, a panel of women screenwriters from Minnesota talked about their experiences. "I love the grounded creative energy of the Twin Cities," said Lillie Gardner, a writer and music teacher based in St. Paul. "I love New York and L.A. so much," she explained, "but I want to come home to the more chill vibe of Minnesota."

The world's increasing familiarity with digital communication has helped, said Meg Hafdahl, who went to high school in Duluth and now lives in Rochester. Her writing partner, Duluthian Kelly Florence, explained: "Our first book that we published together came out 2019, and since then ... we were able to get meetings, we were able to get representation, literary agent, TV/film rights agent, publicist, and now we have production meetings. We've done it all from Minnesota."

Florence and Hafdahl, who are both mothers, said they were glad for the ability to balance their Minnesota family lives with their writing careers — but at the same time, said they have to fight sexist attitudes. "In the last week," said Hafdahl, "one man told us we look too gothic and one man told us we weren't gothic enough."

"We didn't know what to do with those notes," Florence said with a laugh.

Gardner described having to fight "Midwest woman" sterotypes, including some that she's internalized. "I work really hard," she said. "I work way too hard and do way too many things at a time, and I finally decided to accept that I'm no good at getting the dishes done, (that) my boyfriend could figure that out."

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"Why aren't you married yet? When are you going to have children? How are you going to get a real job?" asked Clara Davies rhetorically, voicing questions she's heard from relatives. "There's this very hard balance in filling all the roles that we're expected to do."

Two doors with the inscription WELCOME TO ZEITGEIST above, adorned with CATALYST graphics
Zeitgiest was branded with the Catalyst name and logo during the organization's 2022 festival in Duluth.
Jay Gabler / Duluth News Tribune

All four panelists were presenting scripts at Catalyst. "We are passionate about telling female-driven stories, and we want to film in Minnesota," said Florence. "That's our goal. Everything that we're writing could be shot here."

Filming in Minnesota was the topic of the last Catalyst session I attended. Melodie Bahan (Minnesota Film & TV), Shari Marshik (Upper Midwest Film Office) and Riki McManus (also UMFO) took the stage at Fitger's Spirit of the North room for a detailed discussion of how to take advantage of several different incentive programs currently available in Minnesota generally and the Northland specifically.

"It's very, very important to us that creators are supported throughout the community and throughout the state," said Marshik. Her organization, UMFO, exists both to attract productions to Minnesota and to support filmmakers as they work here.

"We'll show you the sites, we'll show you locations," said McManus. "Maybe you need connections at City Hall. Whichever city hall it might be, we do that, too."

As the panelists talked about the significant incentives available in the Northland, I heard attendees from L.A. and New York audibly murmuring, impressed. The catch is that the rebates and tax credits are only available to subsidize expenses accrued within specific jurisdictions. In other words, you can fly your favorite Hollywood cinematographer to the Iron Range, but you can't expect an Iron Range rebate to defray her pay. A key goal of the incentives is to encourage visiting filmmakers to hire local.

But, are there locals to hire? "Do we have workforce? Yes, we have workforce. Yes, we're working on more," said Marshik. She and McManus cited a three-day UMFO program to train film production assistants.

One attendee asked how much that program cost. "I'm glad you're sitting down, because you're going to be amazed," said McManus. "Fifty dollars. And we have scholarships available."

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Even in my short stop at the Catalyst Content Festival and the North Star Story Summit, it was clear the Northland can expect to see a lot more lanyards, laptops and light meters as our film and television industries continue to expand.

"There is more opportunity," said Davies regarding her career as a Minnesotan involved with filmmaking. "We're getting to the point where we don't have to go anywhere."

"The fact that I'm in Duluth," said the high-powered producer Aronsohn, "is not something I would have conceived of a few years ago."

Short cuts

Book cover: Brian Freeman, "The Zero Night." Cover features eye looking through gold-hued lowball glass half-filled with clear liquid.
Cover art for Brian Freeman's new novel, "The Zero Night."
Contributed / Blackstone Publishing

Brian Freeman, a Woodbury, Minnesota, author whose thrillers are often set in Duluth, has a new one. "The Zero Night" opens with a ransom pickup at the Great Lakes Aquarium. The 11th book in Freeman's Jonathan Stride series, "The Zero Night" includes lines like, "I'm in Canal Park. Guppo's on the way," and, "She married a corporate lawyer, a man who was supposed to do patents and IP deals and sip martinis at Black Water." If a skinny guy in a T-shirt has a lead on Hink Miller's whereabouts, you'd better believe he'll be holding a can of Bent Paddle.

Come for the local color, stay for the story: Freeman's the real deal. He's only the second author licensed to write Jason Bourne novels since the death of the character's creator Robert Ludlum, and Freeman recently sold the film rights to his 2021 novel "Infinite." His latest, "Zero Night," hits shelves on Nov. 1. For the latest, see bfreemanbooks.com.

Lyric Opera of the North will be at Clyde Iron Works next week to present one of America's most widely-staged contemporary operas. Composer Laura Kaminsky's "As One" (2014) is described as "a chamber opera in which two voices — Hannah after and Hannah before — share the part of a sole transgender protagonist." The LOON production will feature Georgia Jacobson, a nationally performing mezzo-soprano from Duluth; and Lucas Bouk, a baritone and a transgender man. There are performances Monday and Tuesday, with comedian Danielle Thralow hosting Q&A sessions after both shows. For tickets and information, see loonopera.org.

Duluth-founded band Trampled by Turtles have released a new single, with music video, from their forthcoming album. "A Lifetime to Find" was written by Jeff Tweedy, the leader of Wilco and half of the foundational alt-country band Uncle Tupelo. Tweedy also produced the new album, "Alpenglow," which will be released Oct. 28. The video features a series of Polaroid pictures taken during the album's recording. “It was a real honor for us to record one of Jeff’s songs," said the band's Dave Simonett in a statement. "I love the story he tells and the way he tells it. A conversation with death — who hasn’t had one of those?"

Trampled by Turtles are also offering a range of items in a charity auction to support Boundary Waters preservation efforts. For information on the music and auction, see trampledbyturtles.com.

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MORE BY JAY GABLER
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The filmmaker behind "Rescuing Christmas" and "Merry Kiss Cam" said the entertainment industry has started to take notice of us.

Arts and entertainment reporter Jay Gabler joined the Duluth News Tribune in 2022. His previous experience includes eight years as a digital producer at The Current (Minnesota Public Radio), four years as theater critic at Minneapolis alt-weekly City Pages, and six years as arts editor at the Twin Cities Daily Planet. He's a co-founder of pop culture and creative writing blog The Tangential; he's also a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance. You can reach him at jgabler@duluthnews.com or 218-279-5536.

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