Acting gigs are pretty much non existent now in Iowa. The ads and infomercials are around, the non-paying movie projects for film festivals. And how about a Tea Party rally where Jay Villwock and I, plus forty-some others were hired to wear costume shop military uniforms and plant flags on a stage at a rally put together by Tea Party officials?
Although Jay and I are veterans, the organizers had a former army drill sergeant teach us how to march. Because most of those hired for this event were not actors and also were not vets, the marching scenario was a classic comedy scene. Instead of turning in unison, marchers would turn towards each other. Fellow actor and miltary veteran Rick Septer was there, as well as Jeremy Ray Smolik, who worked on movies shot in Iowa before the program was killed.
Pathetic fare, yet there is hope for a better movie future in Iowa: Wendol Jarvis. Wendol was our first Iowa film office director and brought many, many movies to this state. He has solid Hollywood connections as well as political skills and contacts. He's driven thousands of miles and compiled hundreds of pages of graphs and charts and data related to how to improve the Iowa film office, all on his own time and dollar.
Wendol seems a likely candidate to lead the Iowa film office again. I am fully confident that he will rekindle interest in the minds of film producers and smooth the path for those people to bring their projects back to us.
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