Compass Rolls Cameras for Hospice of Michigan

Compass Cleans-up in Aisle 11. Literally. More than twenty Compass alumni and current students gathered at a local West Michigan Meijer recently. . They were all working as crew on a Hospice of Michigan (HOM) public service announcement and music video to celebrate HOM’s 30 years of service.Sponsored by Meijer, Blue Care Network, and Compass [...]

Compass Welcomes New Members to Board of Directors

Compass Film Academy is delighted to announce that two new members joined the Board of Directors: Geary Maiuri and Arthur Brown. Maiuri, works as Associate Vice President, Student and Community Services with Macomb Community College. He and his wife, Sandra, live in Rochester, Michigan.
Brown, a West Point graduate, retired with the rank of [...]

Compass Alums Nab $10,000 Johnsonville Brats Prize

Caleb Slain had a plan. So did his director of photography, Derek Street. Both filmmakers, former Compass students, wanted to pick up $10,000 in a “Share your Ville” contest sponsored by Johnsonville Sausage. The company was looking for a new TV campaign, and they wanted to see if new filmmakers could [...]

Ruminations on Fog with Screenwriter David Weiss

David Weiss remembers chasing the fog. Although it was an illusive chase, Weiss made more than one attempt. The lesson learned would eventually lead him to co-writing the script for one of the most anticipated 3D films in years, The Smurfs.
As a boy, from his home in Ventura, California, he would watch the fog roll [...]

Knowing When to Run it by Legal: The Role of Attorneys in the Filmmaking Process

Most aspiring filmmakers know that at some point, if they are going to get serious about producing a film that has the potential to succeed commercially, they will need to work with attorneys to make sure that the legal affairs of their project are properly handled. So the question of when to engage an [...]

Close Up: Jeremy Waterbury

Thousands of years from now, it’s quite possible that Jeremy Waterbury’s name will still be on lips of Christian artists throughout the world. The 2009 Compass graduate from Muncie, Indiana, is a testament of blind faith, complete trust in God, and his calling to be a filmmaker.
Shortly before the 2008-2009 classes began, Waterbury and his [...]

“Lights, Camera, Animals” - Compass Film Academy Roll with Themes

What could a pig farm have in common with Victorian England or a cutting edge barber shop? All three subjects are part of the stories in thesis films currently being produced by Compass Film Academy’s class of 2010. The projects this year are some of the most ambitious and complicated productions in the school’s history. [...]

CFA Board of Advisors Adds Four More Experts

Compass Film Academy continues to strengthen its position as the region’s premiere film school with the addition of Mark Clayman, Dick Rolfe, Joel Schoon Tanis, and Dr. Paul Worfel to its Board of Advisors.
Clayman, a Los Angeles-based producer,  initiated development and served as Executive Producer on Sony’s box office hit, “The Pursuit of Happyness.” The [...]

CFA Certification Featured in Grand Rapids Business Journal

It’s getting more difficult for Compass Film Academy to fly below the radar.

The 10-year-old private vocational school, which instructs students in movie script writing and film production and is located on Fifth Street near Seward in northwest Grand Rapids, was certified in late May for Title IV financial aid from the federal government. Title IV is offered to college students through Pell grants, Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants, Perkins loans and other subsidized and unsubsidized direct loans.

High School Film Camp Produces “Future Ken Burns”

Blake Cortright is all smiles. And he should be. Because it’s almost unheard of for a 16-year-old to produce a documentary and have it air on PBS television. Blake took the skills he learned from Compass Film Academy’s Summer Film and Acting Camps, and used them to produce The First Encampment. [...]