From EarternIowaGovernment.Com, Rod Boshart writer

Durham: Get rid of state film tax credits
October 6, 2011, 2:23 pm
By Rod Boshart/SourceMedia Group News

Gazette Des Moines Bureau
DES MOINES – Iowa’s economic development chief said Thursday the state should not be in the business of providing financial incentives to lure film projects.
Debi Durham, director of the reconfigured Iowa Economic Development Authority, said she would like to see the state “get rid” of the film tax credit program that has been suspended until 2013 due to a scandal that shut down the effort two years ago and resulted in criminal convictions over alleged abuses and mismanagement of financial incentives aimed at attracting movie, television and video projects to Iowa.
“That’s not a business we should be in, and the reason we shouldn’t be in it is because it isn’t creating the value we need from a high-quality job, high-quality investment,” Durham said. “I don’t think we need to be incentivizing it.”
The Iowa Attorney General’s Office currently is negotiating with the remaining filmmakers who contracted with the state for tax credits to resolve outstanding issues, and Durham said once that process is completed and Iowans assess what was invested and what was gained in return she expects they’re going to say “let’s rethink that.”
Leaders of the Iowa Motion Picture Association and others have been working to revitalize a film industry that suffered a setback with the tax credit program’s collapse. They say they are pushing to reopen the Iowa Film Office and to reformulate a new Iowa incentive program similar to what other states offer to attract film projects.
Durham said she favors reopening the Iowa Film Office but placing it in the state Department of Cultural Affairs and having it operate as a clearinghouse of information where prospective moviemakers could go to get information about possible locations where film shoots could take place or to connect them with businesses in Iowa that specialize in equipment, crews, cast or other pertinent services.
“What we need to do is facilitate the process. We need to make sure we have a directory here that when film companies come in, we can introduce them to companies that can do work. We should be a clearinghouse for that,” she said.
“When you look at some of the biggest films like “Bridges of Madison County” and “Field of Dreams,” I mean we didn’t incentivize those and I don’t think we need to. I think we need to facilitate those and we need to have that information handy.”
Tim Albrecht, Gov. Terry Branstad’s spokesman, said last week that the governor is interested in opening a new Iowa Film Office given the movie-making successes the state enjoyed in the ‘80s and ‘90s and he has had discussions with Wendol Jarvis — who created the office in 1984 and then left in discouragement over staff cuts in 2002 – about reprising his role.
Albrecht said the governor believes filmmaking is good for economic development in Iowa, but it’s not likely film tax credits have a future role in Iowa.