Jenkins father was
a colonel in the Air Force and after traveling the
world, the family settled in Anna Maria in the 60s.
Jenkins graduated from Manatee High School, then attended
Manatee Community College, Florida State University
and Columbia University Film School.
"I got hired out of school to do camera work
in Los Angeles," he recalled. "I stayed
in LA during the 70s and worked on all kinds of feature
films and produced a few low budget, drive-in movies.
He set up his own company, Empire Productions, in
1972 and worked on feature films, television spots,
documentaries and short films as everything from crew
member to executive producer. He worked with John
Wayne, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry and produced
several feature films.
"In the late 70s, I moved back to Florida and
took a job with the state managing a production facility
in Gainesville. I stayed there 18 years," he
said.
He and two partners also owned In Motion Pictures
Corporation, which produced corporate and industrial
films and television commercials. Jenkins left Gainesville
for Orlando, where he was hired as a consultant to
design a production facility, then managed the facility.
In 1998, his father had a stroke and he moved back
to the Island to help his mother, Margaret, care for
his father. That same year, he started Cyberstreme.com.
"I did quite a bit of corporate industrial stuff
until a year ago, when I decided I wanted to do motion
pictures again," Jenkins said. "We’re
a turnkey operation. If you have movie you want to
make and you can’t afford the equipment, we’ll
do it. We can shoot in high definition tape and go
to film or TV. I have a fast and efficient team of
professionals that work with the company. We offer
camera work, editing, lighting and even animation."
Jenkins said he has several distributors that want
to screen "Fat Chance."
‘We make a 10-minute version to show investors
and distributors the quality of our work and make
a package with the script, budget, etc.," he
explained. "If they like it, they’ll buy
it or enter into an agreement to co-distribute it."
Jenkins said he has four other movies in the works,
and all will use Island locations for scenes. One
is about an angel who is sent back to earth to earn
his wings. Another is a comedy about attorneys, a
third is a science fiction feature and the fourth
is a horror film.
"I like to shoot in this area," he said.
"I also have a studio with a sound stage in downtown
Bradenton and 12 acres with a barn near Gainesville
that I can use."
In addition to movies, Cyberstreme offers web site
design, streaming media, commercials, computer animation,
infomercials, still photos, CDs and DVDs and music
videos.
"I do a lot of consulting with corporations on
how to market products using the Internet and streaming
media with DVD production," he said.
Jenkins can be contacted at 778-5207 or walt@cyberstreme.com.
His website is cyberstreme.com.
