Idaho's League 43 working with Travolta

League 43, a consortium of film and entertainment production companies, has formed a cinematic pipeline for Idaho that extends deep into the heart of Hollywood.

The most recent projects for the Boise-based consortium involve producing visual effects for a Virgin America in-flight safety video, and supervising visual effects for a new film, "The Forger," starring John Travolta.

League 43 was formed as a result of a new, growing culture in Idaho to provide high-end entertainment productions to the national market. What started out with a core of visual effects artists has grown into a script-to-screen production team equipped with state-of-the-art Red Epic camera technology and industry-leading post-production offerings.

League 43's members include directors, actors, editors, animators, film crews, visual effects artists, costume and makeup artists, lighting professionals and many others - a group that is continually growing and evolving.

"Our main goal is to capture national work, as well as local film production, to showcase Idaho's diverse and wide-ranging talent," said Jesse Cordtz, spokesperson for League 43.

Artists also dabble in game art. In recent weeks, League 43 affiliates have provided renderings for Disney ("Mickey's Super Adventure" and "Henry's Hugglematch") and are poised to release a locally produced game.

League 43 artists provided the art assets for Choo Parr Productions of Kuna, with each player acting as a rat who uses cats to fight sewer monsters. The game was released this week.

In addition to production work, one of League 43's main goals is to foster and inspire a love of film production in Idaho's youth.

League 43 has developed a partnership with the Idaho Children's Educational Film and Television Foundation to teach workshops for kids and teens. Cordtz said that because technology used in film production is so adaptive and ever-changing, it's important to plant the love of film production early for college classes to be the most useful to students. Starting in March, the workshops - which include acting and all aspects of production - will be taught by League 43 affiliates and are designed to enhance Idaho's local film production skillset.