By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

We do not usually discuss the arts on this blog but here is an announcement that came across my desk that I feel is of great interest to the entrepreneurial community.

On October 13, 2009, 50 Eggs Productions, an independent film company, today a announced major partnership with AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC), which will exclusively release the production company’s newest film TEN9EIGHT: Shoot for the Moon during Global Entrepreneurship Week. The film is expected to draw national and international attention to and its message about the life-changing power of teaching entrepreneurship to kids from the inner city. TEN9EIGHT, whose title refers to the fact that every nine seconds a kid drops out of a U.S. high school, is especially timely given the an economic recession and a dropout crisis, in which ways must be found to engage youth.

The film, which is produced and directed by award winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio, chronicles the inspirational stories of several teens from low-income communities – many of whom are on the bubble: on the verge of dropping out, joining a gang, or worse.
These students enroll in a course at school - an innovative program that teaches these students how to become entrepreneurs. They learn how to read a balance sheet and how to start a business. 24,000 of these students, from Harlem to Compton (and all points in between) then enter a nationwide business plan competition run by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

This project has enjoyed an unprecedented level of support for an independent documentary film; AMC Entertainment Inc. will exclusively release the film on November 13 at 15 theatres in eight markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Miami, Washington, DC and Kansas City). AMC will also offer a free screening on November 12 in each market for teachers and their students.

The partnership with AMC came about because AMC features a program dedicated to specialty films called AMC SELECT. The AMC SELECT program is available in about 80 theatres and guarantees one specialty film in the designated theatres 365 days a year.

Screenings of the film will also be a centerpiece of Global Entrepreneurship Week (November 16-22). The Week is an international celebration involving thousands of organizations around the globe that will hold events to inspire, connect, mentor and engage young people and encourages them to pursue entrepreneurial ideas and opportunities.

In its press release, 50 Eggs points to the case of Rodney Walker, a finalist in the competition and the narrator of the film. He was put into the foster care system at the age of five – along with his 10 brothers and sisters – and ended up essentially homeless on the streets of Chicago. Rather than joining his brothers in gangs or jail, Rodney was able to forge a better future for himself by learning how to start his own business. Today, he is on the Dean’s List at Morehouse College.

As Mary Mazzio, writer and director of TEN9EIGHT states, “if this movie inspires a single kid to stay in school, then we have all won.”

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