TRAVERSE CITY -- It is lights, camera, action… as the Traverse City Film Festival rolls into its 7th year. Organizers say 2011 is promising to be another record breaker.
Curtains open on the Traverse City Film Fest, a 6-day extravaganza that brings Hollywood to northern Michigan.
Now in its 7th year, organizers say it's one of the biggest in the country.
TC Film Festival Co-Founder John Robert Williams says, "There is such a demand between online and in person ticket sales...it's crazy!!"
Looking back to 2005, which was the festivals first year and 50,000 tickets were sold.
Then fast forward to 2010 and that number more than doubled to 106,000 admissions.
So what about this upcoming week? Organizers say 125,000 tickets are expected to sell. This is up 19,000 tickets from last year.
Co-Founder of the Film Festival John Robert Williams credits the increase to new additions like the "Kids Fest" at Lars Hockstad Auditorium, a new theatre inside the Dennos Museum, and a larger 4-story high - outdoor screen at the open space. These are changes that equal serious revenue.
Williams explains, "It’s a 12-15 million dollar bump to the community this upcoming week and it's things you don't expect...shoe stores tell us it's their largest sales, weeks, and days of the year are during the film festival."
Williams says there's a secret to the Traverse City Film Festivals sustained success....
He says, "This is a festival that doesn't live by some big named sponsor.... this isn't the 7-Up film festival so we have local donors and sponsor that help make this thing a "by the community, for the community" film festival."
