Casting Motor City opens film training school

Michigan’s generous tax incentives for the film industry equal almost unlimited economic opportunity for Kathy McKee.The owner of three film production businesses in Metro Detroit is making the most of the situation, finding a number of ways to cash in on the film work that is coming here because of the tax breaks. She already has two casting companies, Kathy McKee Casting and Casting Motor City, that have provided extras for TV and movie shoots for years.Her latest venture is the Casting Motor City Film & TV Training Studio. The Lathrup Village-based business focuses on training people for careers in the film industry, for everything from acting and screenwriting to handling movie-making equipment. Class size never exceeds 20 students.”We’re going to teach these people exactly what it means to be in show business,” McKee says. “There is a protocol.”Right now the school, which opened in October, employs McKee and a handful of vendors who help teach the classes. She hopes to bring on some full-time employees by the end of the year when classes begin to fill out.Source: Kathy McKee, co-owner and director of the Casting Motor City Film & TV Training StudioWriter: Jon Zemke