On October 13, 2021, the Mayor and Commission of the City of Miami Beach (the “City”) referred an item to the Finance and Economic Resiliency Committee (FERC) to discuss the possible issuance of a General Obligation Bond (G.O. Bond) to fund arts and culture, which would be subject to voter referendum.

The FERC directed the Administration to work on an inventory of needs for the City’s arts and cultural assets; and on February 25, 2022, the FERC reviewed the inventory and directed the Administration to brief members of the City Commission with the funding requests.

At the March 30, 2022, FERC meeting, the Committee reviewed a revised project list for a possible arts and culture G.O. Bond and made a motion to have the item discussed for further direction by the City Commission at the May 4, 2022 Commission meeting; however, the item was deferred to June 22, 2022.

On June 22, 2022, the Mayor and City Commission favorably considered the idea of issuing a G.O. Bond for Arts and Culture, directing the existing G.O. Bond Oversight Committee to review and vet the proposed project list and to provide a recommendation; and on July 25, 2022, the Mayor and Commission approved the list submitted by the G.O. Bond Oversight Committee and further authorized submitting to the electorate, a special ballot question asking whether the city shall be authorized to issue a General Obligation Bond, not to exceed $159,000,000 to improve cultural facilities via Resolution No. 2022-32261.

On the November 8, 2022 ballot question, Miami Beach voters approved the issuance of the G.O. Bond.  On November 16, 2022, the Mayor and Commission approved Resolution No. 2022-32405, directing the Administration to negotiate and secure public benefits as part of the City’s grant agreements with the cultural organizations; and the Administration secured additional public benefits as outlined in Resolution No. 2023-32594.

At the March 27, 2023, Commission Meeting, the Mayor and Commission referred an item to the FERC to discuss budgeting for the production of a documentary to highlight the Arts and Culture G.O. Bond; and at the May 24, 2023 FERC meeting, the item was discussed, and the Committee asked the Administration to return to the July 26, 2023 Commission meeting with quotes from production companies to produce a documentary for the Reefline project.  

On June 1, 2023 the Administration met with members from the Reefline team to discuss the project, including production and installation timelines. During this meeting it was noted that specialized skills would be needed in order to capture this project properly, considering that a portion of this documentary would be filmed underwater.

The Administration contacted production companies who were able to meet the minimum requirements and provided them with the guidelines below: 

The Request

All quotes submitted must include costs associated with the following requirements:

- Production of two videos:

1 x 90 second teaser / trailer video

1 x 30-minute documentary video

- All videography and production for a 6-8-month period (estimating appx 15-20 hours per week). Filming will take place as the installation is put in place (underwater in the Atlantic Ocean), however, the documentary must take into account all interviews, b roll at artist studios, in sea and on land.

- Script and storytelling – we will rely on your team to script and tell this story. 

- Must include costs for all lighting, audio, video, editing, cinematography, transportation, talent, wardrobe, craft services, permitting, etc.

- Must include all costs for high resolution, underwater videography equipment to capture placement.

- Must include all administrative costs including insurance, legal, 10% contingency, etc.

- Does not need to include media budget for promotion of video.  

The Proposals

The Administration received the following four proposals: 

Lightpalace - $247,020.40

www.lightpalaceproductions.com

Scholl Creative - $247,500.00

www.schollcreative.com

Filmless - $375,000.00

www.filmless.com

First Light Studios - $414,461.00

www.firstlightstudios.com

Attached are the detailed proposals from each company.

In addition, the Administration reached out to several large studios (Netflix, National Geographic, Discovery Channel) to gauge interest in this project, but as of the printing of this agenda, no replies have been received. Industry professionals informed the Administration that studios would not likely fund a project such as this, but would be more inclined to pick it up after production has been completed. This means that funding would not be available from studios to fund the initial stages of the documentary.