Gino Blathers

The film horse is on its side, the large rib cage is heaving slightly, but hopes for recovery seem gravely dim, yet a Ms. Snyder from the IDED recently announced on local t.v. that there are forty-five film projects signed to start here with thirty more in the wings.

What we in the movie industry are sick of is this continuing assurance that moviemakers are soon returning, while in fact Iowa has been blacklisted by Hollywood because our state did not honor contracts with movie producers. The car incident doesn't seem criminal because the law says moviemakers can use cars but doesn't state specific restrictions... read it and see.

Worse than false reassurances would be how state legislators are distancing themselves from all of this for fear of hurting their own chances for re-election. I know that one Iowa senator, Bill Dotzler, Jr. of Waterloo, was to re-design the film bill and present it to the next legislative session in January, but now is finding it very hard to find colleagues in the legislature to join him in this endeavor.

Also, the Iowa Attorney General''s office is obviously delaying its film-related cases until elections in Iowa are over. How unfair! Governor Culver said again that we're not suckers and that he'd never restart the film program. Well, he obviously isn't going to be re-elected, yet I wonder now if even former governor Terry Branstad will help, concerned that the film disaster might tarnish his own campaign if he were to come out and support we in the acting industry in Iowa.

Bottom line: after going to the Iowa Capitol several times every week with Jay Villwock during the last legislative session and meeting with dozens of representatives and senators, I now know that the harsh reality is that many politicians are most concerned about their own re-elections, not about the needs and concerns of those who elected them.