MANATEE -- USF Sarasota-Manatee has teamed with Sanborn Film & Television Institute, LLC to offer a master’s degree in business with a concentration in film and television production.
The focus will be on how to develop, market and finance film and television productions.
Dr. Robert Anderson, USF-SM’s dean of the college of business, and Ken Sanborn made the announcement Friday morning on the university campus.
Ken Sanborn is founder/chief executive officer of Sanborn Film & Television Institute, LLC as well as Sanborn Studios LLC, which has a facility in Lakewood Ranch and another closer to USF near the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport.
Sanborn said students will be brought into a “real-world environment” at his studio in Lakewood Ranch and that a classroom will be set up in his building by the airport.
He screened the two-and-a-half-minute trailer for the Sanborn Studios, LLC production “Miami 24/7.” The action-packed drama about competing news helicopter teams stars Casper Van Dien, best known for the 1997 sci-fi film “Starship Troopers.”
“That project cost me about $500,000,” Sanborn said of the trailer.
The television show has been listed as in pre-production on the Sanborn Studios website since November.
On the Governor’s Office of Film & Entertainment website, in the Florida Entertainment Industry Financial Incentive Recipients section, “Miami 24/7” and Miami 24/7, LLC, has a start date of June 20 and wrap date of October 14.
Sanborn also offered behind-the-scenes footage of the pilot for the TV show “Workers’ Comp,” the comedy starring Morgan Fairchild mostly shot in downtown Bradenton last month.
Sanborn’s 19-year-old son, Harrison Sanborn, directed and coauthored the show’s script. VadarCorp.com lists “Workers’ Comp” as “A VADAR Corp & Sanborn Studios Production.”
Anderson said he expects the new, four-semester MBA program will have 20 to 25 students and include a “300-hour practicum in the studio.”
The dean said USF-SM hopes to start the program this fall, but issues concerning international students and their visas might delay the opening until next spring.
