About

Leading Edge Research and Improvement of Industry Best Practices

Motion Picture Industry Institute (MPii) is a volunteer-driven nonprofit industry research think tank dedicated to improving the future of the Hollywood and worldwide motion picture industry. By researching, improving and disseminating the best industry practices, year after year, MPii also helps the next generation of future and emerging professionals to more effectively prepare for, launch and further their careers as well.

Our Mission:
Recognizing that the Motion Picture Industry is the prime source of stories that help shape society globally, MPii serves all who share this planet by researching and improving industry standards and best practices in the motion picture industry.

Not a school, but providing the best in the industry training:
As a think tank for the future of the movie and television industry, we research, experiment, test, then educate broadly both within the industry and also to the general public. While MPii is not a school, per se, we do run programs that provide best-in-class workforce development training for pre-professionals and working professionals so they can thrive with meaningful, fulfilling, and sustainable career.

Not a Professional Organization. You can’t join as a Member, but you can get involved as a Volunteer:
While there is very much a strong sense of community among those who serve and train at MPii, we are not a professional organization such as the Producers Guild, Film Independent, or trade unions. We do not have a membership, nor do we represent or advocate for the industry or any particular professions within our industry.

Our programs are relevant across the broad spectrum of industry careers, including but not limited to:

writers, directors, producers
actors & and other performers
casting directors
cinematographers & technical crew
editors & post-production professionals
studio, network, production company and distribution execs,
agents, managers, attorneys, financiers and accountants

MPii believes that a stronger, healthier industry will better serve global society which in part is shaped by our cinematic narratives. And a stronger, healthier industry will result if the knowledge it usually takes decades to learn is more generally (and genuinely) shared with those who are just starting their careers, as well as those working professionals wanting to take their careers to the next level.

As a collaborative art form, filmmaking is a team sport, and our teams are built on the strength and professional preparedness of all of our collaborators. Therefore the work at MPii focuses on developing and sharing better industry standards and practices in all areas of the entertainment field, from story development, through finance and production, to final marketing and distribution, including film theory and criticism.

In order to be sure to continue to offer the “best of the best” industry practices available for career development and the MP/TV creative process, MPii actively conducts deep research, rigorous testing, and then compelling dissemination via in person and online workshops and trainings, and other career development programs, such as internships, fellowships and artist in residence programs, which are often hosted by, sponsored by and/or in partnership with studios, networks, industry guilds, unions, trade associations, universities and leading industry organizations around the world.

Our primary areas of focus are researching and helping to improve industry best practices in:

Story Development

Production Management and On-set Safety and Protocols

Diversity, Gender and Inclusion in the Entertainment Industry

Marketing, Promotion and Distribution of Entertainment

Legal and Financing of Entertainment Projects,

New Technology in Motion Picture Production and Distribution

Talent Management, Representation and Career-Building Strategies in Entertainment Industry

The Motion Picture Industry Institute operates as a 501.c.3 nonprofit organization, based in Los Angeles.

OUR HISTORY

The core for much of the research, trainings, workshops and programs at Motion Picture Industry Institute today is the legacy of the first Roundtables and Story Sessions, which brought together professionals in the story development area of the industry to improve industry best practices in the wake of the 1988 Writers Guild strike. The focus expanded further as Steven Soderbergh and others expressed the need for a place where working professionals could come together to share what they were learning with each other and the next generation, as we all worked to move our projects and careers forward.

The growing collection of meetups, roundtables and peer-to-peer industry skills-building training programs for working professionals officially became Filmmakers Foundation in 1995. With the support and partnership of such industry organizations as The Writer’s Guild (WGA), The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The Directors Guild (DGA), Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney, and many leading industry professionals, Filmmakers Foundation was known for three flagship projects:

founding the The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, which then became the Los Angeles Film Festival for 20+ years.
a nonprofit indie filmmaking collective-style production support services program, to help emerging filmmakers access and share resources, knowledge, and relationships to get their first features made.
the motion picture industry think tank researching and improving best practices and then sharing those improved protocols via career-building training programs for working and emerging professionals.

By 2000, it was clear that each of these three programs needed their own organizations in order to continue to grow each in their own best way. The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival was spun off, and evolved away from the focus on the “independent” and is now called The Los Angeles Film Festival. The indie filmmaking collective group migrated to a sister filmmakers collective which is now known as the Filmmakers Alliance. The industry research and training programs are now the core programs here at MPii.