Courter Films and Associates

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FILMS & VIDEOS

COMPANY HISTORY
& BACKGROUND

DIRECTOR/EDITOR:
PHIL COURTER

PRODUCER/WRITER:
GAY COURTER

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(PAST PRODUCTIONS)

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SPECIALIZING IN MEDIA ABOUT CHILDREN'S ISSUES AND STRENGTHENING FAMILIES

COMPANY HISTORY & BACKGROUND

Courter Films & Associates has been actively producing and distributing documentary, promotional, educational, and television programs for more than 30 years. Owners Gay and Phil Courter met in the film business in New York in the late 1960s. Phil had just finished a widely -acclaimed documentary for Bank Street College about children growing up in poverty on Manhattan's west side (see "Filmography: PAST PRODUCTIONS") while Gay wrote and directed educational films for ACI Films, a leading distributor of educational programming. Together, they began working independently and created Courter Films in 1973.

The newly created Head Start program was the subject of two films created by the Courters. These groundbreaking documentaries were filmed with children and social workers in the coal camps and hollows of West Virginia. Other early work included a documentary celebrating the landing of men on the moon. The resulting program commissioned by NASA, Reflections in Space, became the most highly awarded documentary of 1971.

As part of a pre-school literary campaign, the Courters developed a series of animated children's stories for Western Publishing's Golden Books division. They used children's voices and illustrations from popular children's books. Other industrial clients included IBM International, who commissioned films to launch innovative commercial systems as well as motivational films for conferences.

When Gay and Phil began their own family while living in northwest New Jersey in the mid 70s, Courter Films produced a series of 11 programs for expectant parents under the trade name, Parenting Pictures. By the 90s, this series had become the most widely used films in this subject area worldwide. Based on market-share figures, one-third of the families giving birth in the U.S. viewed at least one of the Courter's Parenting Pictures, and the series ultimately became a powerful force for consumerism in the field of family-centered childbirth.

Seeing a need to better prepare firefighters in up-to-date techniques, they launched Firefighter Films by writing, producing, and distributing a series for this worldwide market.

In 1979, Courter Films moved their operations to Crystal River, Florida, where work continued on the childbirth and firefighter training films.

While always actively producing programs for distribution, as well as clients and sponsors, Courter Films also works on long range projects for public and cable television, working in partnership with Tampa's public television station, WEDU. In 1988, the Courters developed and produced a two-hour package of programming titled, The Florida Water Story, which enjoyed rave reviews, repeated broadcasts, and wide viewer acclaim.

In 1994, Where's My Chance - The Case for Our Children, was recognized with a regional Emmy Award from the National Academy for the Television Arts and Sciences. One of the many results of the creation and broadcast of this public TV program was the Courters' increasing interest in programming about children, families, and social issues.

In 1989, Gay Courter began doing volunteer work as a Florida Guardian Ad Litem, and in 1992, Governor Lawton Chiles appointed Phil to the newly created Florida Health & Human Services Boards. The Courters' growing interest and expertise in the area of child advocacy led to commissions from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges, Casey Family Services, National Association for Court Appointed Advocates (CASA), the Child Welfare League of America, the Superior Court of California, UCLA, Kinship Center (California), Northwest Institute for Children and Families (Seattle), Santa Clara County (California) Department of Social Services, Family Services of Central Florida and other groups with special interests in children's issues.

Courter Films' production facilities in Crystal River houses a full complement of film/video production equipment including studio and location cameras; underwater and aerial equipment; audio recording, mixing, and transfer equipment; film, audio, and video editing systems; as well as a film and video distribution center. Programs may be originated on film or broadcast video formats, and can be edited with conventional off-line/on-line techniques, or with Courter Films' state-of-the-art digital editing system, which provides for maximum creativity in editing, re-editing, or alternate versions and also allows for extensive computer graphics, art, and animation.

PRESS CLIPPINGS

New York Times