Movie Superhero Lays Out ​“Jaigantic” Community Vision

Michael Jai White brought a message to movers and shakers: Help me make studio opportunities for the community in my latest venture.

The actor, producer, and writer issued that call at a“meet and greet” hosted by New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter and State Sen. Gary Holder Winfield held at Newhallville’s Ivy Narrow Bird Habitat on Sunday evening. The event was organized by the state legislature’s Black & Hispanic Caucus.

The marching orders from White, the first African American to portray a comic book superhero in a major motion picture: get the word out on the wealth of employment and economic opportunities envisioned forJaigantic Studios.

The state-of-the-art Hollywood-style production facility is slated to be constructed on River Street over the next two years. Currently, Jaigantic operates out of a temporary studio in Shelton.

“Tell whoever you’re talking to, think about what they see at the end of a movie or a TV show,” White told the animated group of 35 amid the strains of soft jazz and tinkling cocktail glasses in the summer dusk. ​“Start counting all the names that go up and keep going and going and going. Those are human beings. Those are all jobs that are going to be here for them.”

That means not just jobs, but apprenticeships and on-the-job training opportunities that range from grip & electric to directing and producing in the film & television department, to virtual production in the emerging media department, to set design and makeup design in wardrobe & styling, to catering in the hospitality & food service department.

Jaigantic CEO Donovan DeBoer outlined Jaigantic’s plans with a blueprint of the studio.

“There are about 25 sound stages, and each of those stages holds an entire film production,” he said. ​“A film production on any given day employs 100 to 150 people. We’re not pulling those people from New York or LA. The industry is packed. We’re building a work force on the local level.” 

“The way we’re different is we want to involve the community from the start,” said Jackie Buster, the studio’s chief impact officer, and a 13th-generation New Havener. ​“We want to make sure early on that they understand what these jobs are and the skills sets they require. The leaders here are in direct contact with their constituents and they’re the best people to reach out to them.”

“This is about opportunity for people who don’t always have opportunities,” New Haven State Sen. Gary Holder Winfield said. ​“It’s about helping people attain skills that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to attain that they can use anywhere.”

New Haven State Rep. Robyn Porter said local hiring is a priority. ​“What also really excites me is the training for this,” she said. ​“Twenty-five studios means a lot of jobs, skilled jobs with benefits. That means economic empowerment.”

She said she’s been ​“talking to people who have their finger on the pulse of the community, the community management teams, the folks on the grass-roots level that have access to the youth and young adults, and adults that need to be working.”

Before all that, DeBoer said, ​“we’re going to employ over 2,000 people just to build the studios, and those are all union jobs.”

For Ernest Pagan, Connecticut council representative of the North Atlantic Regional Council of Carpenters, that means ​“the opportunity to my 3,000 members to work and bring economic development to the area and also to make sure it’s built by our community standards.” 

That emphasis on top-of-the-line workmanship goes to another aim of the studio: to make New Haven a hub of production, a film and TV destination. ​“We’re going to create a film presence here where filmmakers can come and shoot and they’ll have a ready-made prepared, skilled work force,” said Grant Gilmore, head of production.

Beyond Jaigantic’s full-service production facilities, the state’s favorable film and TV tax incentives, and its location between New York and Boston, the company is uniquely positioned in another way.

“We’re all Hollywood veterans,” Gilmore said, of the team that also includes COO Mayne Berke, direction of operations Keith Shaw, and Mike Berke. ​“We’re not businessmen trying to make a studio happen.”

For White, who grew up in Bridgeport and attended Southern Connecticut State University, it all comes back to coming home. ​“I’m an entertainer, but I’m also a servant,” he said. ​“We are servants. We’re serving our communities, that’s what it’s all about.”

Before his movie career — he’s also a martial artist — White was a special education teacher. ​“I can’t wait to show our kids that there’s an alternate route to honor and respect and success,” he said. ​“It’s almost like how can we blame them if we’re not showing them anything else.”

With that, Pepe Vega, a violence prevention outreach worker in New Haven, raised his hand.

“What can we in the community do to help?” he asked.

“We want your feedback,” DeBoer said. ​“We’re not bulldozers. What are your biggest needs? Your biggest wants? That’s why we’re doing this. That’s why we’re going to keep having these kinds of forums.”

Then Newhallville resident Shirley Lawrence spoke up. ​“These are people’s lives we’re talking about,” she said. ​“Don’t get the people to the table and kick them to the curb. That’s the history of what’s been happening in our community.”

“I’ll take that one,” said Jaigantic chief impact officer Jackie Buster, standing up in the back.

“Michael’s mission from the start was to get Black and Brown people involved because we’re always the last ones to be able to get that opportunity,” she said, adding that the team is setting up a digital portal that will list available positions and provide opportunities to apply online. It will go live in August.

“That’s the reason we invited the Black and Brown caucus members here tonight,” she said. ​“We need your help to make this work.”