Yeah right. That's what Kim Ibasfalean would have said 14 years ago if someone had told her she'd one day star in a movie. Kim and a group of her protegees kicked off a television program in August aired weekly on Manatee County's fledgling cable station, Suncoast Network 96. Her evolution into filmmaking came largely from a desire to communicate her intimate knowledge of changes to the fragile waterways around Cortez.
CORTEZ — Yeah right.
That's what Kim Ibasfalean would have said 14 years ago if someone had told her she'd one day star in a movie.
Fourteen years ago, Ibasfalean earned a living as a commercial fisherman. A third-generation Cortezian, she followed in her mother's footsteps, doing work that left her salt-encrusted and smelling fishy.
Fast forward 14 years.
Ibasfalean today is considered a pioneer, one of a handful of female boat captains in Manatee County, and most of them trained by her. She earns a living as an eco-tourism guide, taking visitors fishing and sightseeing on Captain Kim's Charters.
Everyone calls her "Captain Kim" around the docks and dives of Cortez's historic fishing village, where locals are often known only by nicknames.
A mother of two, Captain Kim, 37, supplements her income with a boat cleaning and maintenance business. She's also a certified stunt driver, acting as a double in motion pictures like "Rough Diamond" and television shows like "CSI: Miami."
Committed to helping other women become boat captains, Captain Kim and a group of her protegees kicked off a television program in August aired weekly on Manatee County's fledgling cable station, Suncoast Network 96.
The bikini-clad boat captains are shown zipping around the waters of Manatee and Sarasota counties, visiting different sandbars and islands like Greer Island, Jewfish Key and Palma Sola Bay.
In future segments, they'll interview colorful beach personalities like Wyman Corsey and Roger Allen.
Licensed to exhibit, they'll pull from the ocean (and return) critters found fascinating by visitors from Michigan and Nevada, like green sea horses and brittle stars with 15-inch legs.
They'll visit restaurants that can be accessed by boat, featuring unusual dishes like blackened mullet and mullet spread.
Named Captain Kim's Adventures, the half-hour program features an all-woman crew doing things you don't usually see women do, says Mark Ibasfaelan, a commercial fisherman and Captain Kim's husband.
"Like in the fall, they'll cast-net mullet," he said.
Captain Kim plans to finance the enterprise by selling advertising on her show. When she has time. She hasn't gotten around to it yet.
Captain Kim's evolution into filmmaking came largely from a desire to communicate her intimate knowledge of changes to the fragile waterways around Cortez.
As an agent of eco-tourism, she said she has become painfully aware of subtle and not-so-subtle changes that have come with development.
If you spend time with her, she'll show you where the pollution is coming from, and why, she says.
"I'd like to get the attention of the local officials," she says. "A lot of people aren't out on the water every day and don't see progressively what's changed."
Her dream is to bring a broader spotlight to the unique and endearing qualities of the places she loves.
"Maybe in five years, one of the larger networks will pick it up," she says. "I could someday be the new Crocodile Hunter."
Such aspirations are familiar to Bob Lorentzen, a former CBS News bureau chief and president of Video Techniques in Bradenton.
Lorentzen's company makes videos for corporate clients including JetBlue Airways and the state of Florida.
"Everybody has an idea for a TV program that they think would be great," Lorentzen said. "We get one person a month that wants to partner with me. All I have to do is furnish the equipment, and then when they sell the idea to the networks, I get all the production rights."
Lorentzen said he declines the offers.
"We don't do spec work," he says.
At the same time, he acknowledges there is mounting competition in his line of work.
"My competition is kids straight out of school," he said. "To the average person who looks at their videos, their picture quality is no different than ours."
Mark Palmer co-founded Suncoast Network 96 with two friends.
A professional photographer, Palmer owned a company that shot boating and helicopter events. His partners are Clint Weldon, who has worked at a Sarasota television station, and Robert Rowan, an accountant.
Unhappy with the quality of what he calls "crappy local television," Palmer hopes to carve out a community network that offers a national look with a local feel.
The station sells prime-time advertising for $200 per half-hour slot, with a potential audience of 90,000 from Palmetto to University Parkway on the first tier on Bright House.
With 2.5 hours of original programming in production, the group aims for an hour of programming on the air per day by September.
Local programming is augmented with classics like "Beverly Hillbillies" and later, "The Lucy Show" and "Dragnet."
Captain Kim paid $1,500 to Suncoast 96 for a day-long production shoot, and said she will get several hours worth of shows for the money.
Other Suncoast 96 advertisers include Collector Cars. Owner Lance Hubschmitt has hosted a show on cable TV for five years and said he's happy with the production quality Suncoast offers.
"It's a couple of young, energetic guys who are very talented, and they're producing a much higher quality show than I had before," Hubschmitt said. "They turn out a product that people will enjoy watching."
Captain Kim said she's going with Suncaost 96 because "they're new, I can afford them and I'm always for the underdog."
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Source: Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
