Published on 3/6/2007
CHICAGO – Call it the 21st century mailroom. For generations, the best way to obtain real-world exposure to the media industry was to push paper for an agency or studio.
Beginning this fall, though, high school graduates interested in producing digital media can cultivate their craft at a new academy with classes in Chicago’s Loop and a sound stage on the west side.
Flashpoint Academy is the brainchild of Lake Forest, Ill.-based private equity professional Rik Landry.
After managing early stage investment firm MBC Global and running a few enterprises of his own, Landry is teaming up on Flashpoint with Chicago-based entrepreneur Howard Tullman and other local angel investors.
Tullman, who founded CCC Information Systems in 1980, is a pioneer of digital media productions. He produced CD-ROM games based on the “Where’s Waldo?” series and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s film “Eraser” as well as early Web sites for Downbeat and Rolling Stone magazines.
More recently, he seems to be targeting educational ventures and is the chairman of Chicago-based Experiencia as well as the Princeton Review.
Flashpoint Academy is located at 28 N. Clark St. in the heart of Chicago’s Loop.
Among the topics discussed with Landry and Tullman in Monday’s Chicago Sun-Times column were the genesis of Flashpoint, its value proposition and Chicago’s place within the evolving media and entertainment landscapes.
On Why They Started Flashpoint
Landry: Teaching is an 18th century model.
There is so much information flow now. What you learn by standing around is much more than I learned going to high school. This idea has been around in my little brain for eight years. How do you get a kid into an environment where he is that passionate and focused and he be happy to be there 40 hours per week?
When game technology revenue worldwide blew by the film industry, that was it for me. That was in August and bang: I hit the button and we started.
Tullman: You are looking at the convergence of the entertainment business with game technology, which is now bigger than the film business.
This is an interesting new generation. There are a lot of kids who are talented but they don’t test well and don’t want to be a doctor or lawyer. This is what the mayor is all over: How do I get these kids to become successful members of the city?
On Value Proposition For Parents, Students
Tullman: In 24 months, we can create people with portfolios who can hit the ground running and make compensation levels that are four and five times what a typical liberal arts college graduate will make. They will have a proven track record because they will have spent their time working in the industry.
There isn’t a business in America that doesn’t need Web talent. Web talent is going to be music, sound and animation. In order to just be in business, your Web site is going to be your front door. We think on both ends there will be substantial demand to get in and substantial demand to get out.
Landry: In the game technology business, you have a funnel of ideas. While there may be some that are commercially viable and we can do something with, we are not counting on that. Flashpoint intends to charge a $25,000 annual tuition for the two-year program.
On Flashpoint’s Place Within Chicago’s Digital Media Industry
Tullman: Chicago is the absolute hub of the pinball machine and video world and has been for the last 35 to 40 years.
You also have film coming back to Chicago. On the North Shore, you have plenty of parents who say their kid has spent the last three years playing video games and working on a computer. The kid has no interest in going to a traditional, four-year thing.
Everything is about instant gratification these days. You tell people four years and that is a lifetime. You tell somebody they are going to be on the cutting edge of technology in the game industry, animation business or in film and you are talking about a different thing.
We are training kids today with things we did not even know yesterday. We are building schools for things we won’t know until tomorrow.