Former Hollywood exec backs local filmmakers: Suzanne Jurva

The casual movie-goer likely wouldn’t know the name Suzanne Jurva or understand her role as a development and research executive for a major motion picture production company, but they’d be very familiar with one iconic film scene that would be much less impactful without her contributions.

That would be the first 20 minutes of “Saving Private Ryan.”

Jurva was a lead researcher for the Steven Spielberg-directed World War II drama, was a liaison to the Pentagon to access documents, photographs, battle plans and other materials from military archives to ensure the film’s raw depiction of the D-Day invasion was as authentic as possible.

That experience and other research work she conducted for historical features like “Lincoln,” “Gladiator” and “Amistad” call for more than just building a collection of facts and details. That’s because she needs to understand how those pieces fit into an overall narrative.

“It’s like being a writer because you have to have a story sense,” Jurva said.

She brings that background, coupled with her own work as an independent producer and director of mainly documentary films, to her latest role as executive director of the Milwaukee Filmmaker Alliance (MFA), an upstart arm of the organization that runs the annual Milwaukee Film Festival.

The MFA is dedicated to supporting, building and advocating for the filmmaking industry in the Milwaukee area. Its formal launch will occur in November.

In 2014, the filmmaking industry in southeastern Wisconsin represented about 15,000 jobs, $1.55 billion in sales and $530 million in labor income, according to preliminary results of a study commissioned by festival organizer Milwaukee Film Inc. Virginia consulting company ICF International conducted the research, which will be revealed in full in November.

“We’re bigger than beer, is what some people want to say,” Jurva said.

Career path

Jurva exhibited a creative talent in her youth in Detroit through activities such as writing and figure skating. Her college days were very different. Her father was an engineer, so Jurva and her three brothers were guided toward a career in that field. For her part, she attended — and graduated from — a highly regarded technical university in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

But that career path was not to be. Five days after graduation, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film. Her desire to be in creative industries was just too great.

Intense networking and volunteering at the American Film Institute helped her gain entry into the field, and she quickly realized a penchant for guiding the development of projects and managing how things would look on screen.

“Starting out I really liked the producing end of it,” she said.

In 1993, she landed with Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and was tasked with the creation of the research department at Amblin’s DreamWorks SKG arm, where she worked closely with co-founders Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg. In 2001, she co-founded the startup Helsinki company Starcut Mobile Entertainment Publishing Co., a firm dedicated to producing content for Nokia mobile phones.

The effort tantalized Jurva because of her Finnish heritage, but it also came in the years just prior to the introduction of the iPhone. By 2005, she left Starcut and began working in film, this time on a project-by-project basis.

“I chose to go back into creating my own content,” she said.

She also began producing and directing her own works and working for other production companies. Over the years, she has researched, developed, wrote or directed works for a variety of television networks and film production companies. Her own production and direction credits include a number of documentaries. Her film about an opera company in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula called “Yoopera!” was featured in the 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival.

Jurva has now been in Milwaukee for just two years, relocating from Atlanta after her husband, a Wisconsin native, was transferred to the local PPG Industries plant in Oak Creek.

The nature of her work allows her to develop projects from just about anywhere, but she was still hesitant about Milwaukee — until she discovered the Milwaukee Film Festival and the depth of the film industry in the city. Local networking provided the local connections she needed.

“I have to find my people,” she said. “That was when I thought I could move here... because of the film festival.”

The Milwaukee Film Festival has grown into one of the top 10 film festivals in the United States, and Milwaukee Film works to provide year-round programming and activities.

Building the industry in Milwaukee will keep filmmakers in the city and makes the city a destination within the industry, said Jonathan Jackson, artistic and executive director of Milwaukee Film.

Jurva’s extensive experience in the industry and her entrepreneurial work with Nokia make her an ideal leader for Milwaukee Filmmaker Alliance, Jackson said. She has also become a passionate and active member of the Milwaukee film industry, he said.

“She has enhanced it and has become a great advocate for it,” said Jackson.

SUZANNE JURVA

• Title: Executive director
• Organization: Milwaukee Filmmaker Alliance
• Age: “It is hard enough being a woman in the film business without adding another way to be marginalized by age.”
• Family: Husband, Joe Ehlinger; adult daughter, Maija-Liisa, and adult son, Alex
• Education: Bachelor of science degree, scientific and technical communications, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich.
• Best career decision: “There was something in me that said just do this (go to L.A. and seek out work in the film industry). Just follow your heart and listen to your inner voice.”
• Hobbies: Movies, television, reading, being outside
• Favorite TV shows: “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “House of Cards” and home improvement reality TV. “I love any and all those renovation shows.”
• Her picks for the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival: “Stumped,” “Blood at the Doorstep,” “Dear Coward on the Moon,” “Sami Blood” (part of Jurva’s Scandinavian heritage), "Kids Shorts: Size Large," Cine Sin Fronteras shorts and “Manifesto”