After posting articles related to the Iowa film program during the current Iowa legislative session, which is expected to end this week, I am now turning to sharing information regarding Iowa films on this blog.
Today I will go to the Iowa Capitol and find out more about the prospects of a work group promised by Iowa Senator Bill Dotzler, Jr., and more about the messin' 'round with the film bill passed through the senate and then got an ADDITIONAL YEAR added for the suspension.
I invite YOUR input, so if you were positively impacted by movie-making here in Iowa, be it as an actor, crew member, on a business person on Mainstreet Iowa, please write and post your comments. The more I hear the better I can speak for all of us.
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Thanks Gene, for keeping your finger on the pulse of Iowa Film activity. Here is my story and I hope it helps.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you how important the tax incentives for filming are to me and my family. If Iowa movie making stops, I will be forced to work out of state. As a wife and mother, I feel it is important that I stay near my home to take care of my family.
I moved here 8 years ago from Los Angeles. I met my husband here in Iowa and started a small business, Monster Design Studio. The main profit center for my business is derived from feature films. Monster Design does Art Direction, Props, Scenery, and Graphics for Iowa films. In a down economy, I was able to triple my yearly income because of the incentives. I was able to get off unemployment, pay off my car, take a vacation, send my 15 year old son to camp for leadership training, and build a deck on my house. I am very conscious as to where I spend my “movie money”. I try to focus my spending on locally owned and operated businesses, and try to keep the money in Iowa as much as I can. My family depends on my income for 50% of our bills. My husband owns a screen printing company in Cedar Rapids and they have really taken a financial hit due to the flood of 08 and the economy.
I need the tax incentives reinstated! And if possible, lift the 50 million dollar cap as this prevents us from getting the bigger movies in Iowa.
Chris, your comments were exactly what I was hoping for. Some, but not all legislators are thick-headed and do NOT acknowledge that film-making creates lots and lots of good jobs! Once such thick-headed legislator is Senator Herman C. Quirmbach. We have allies in the legislature, too, and Senator Bill Dotzler, Jr., is one of our strongest supporters who will form a work group soon after this session ends, to create a new film bill which will the one in place now. The new bill will NOT have a suspension. gino
ReplyDeleteoops... I forgot the word "replace" in the following sentence: ..."to create a new film bill which will REPLACE the one in place now." Better get my reading glasses,huh?
ReplyDelete