If you read the previous posting by Gene Hamilton about his and Jay Villwock's visit to the capitol, you'll know that we are in a potential crisis situation. A proposed budget of $400,000 for a reincarnated Iowa Film Office is passing through the Iowa Legislature and in the Iowa House some Republicans want to cut it down to $150,000.
Considering that the Film Office has to essentially from scratch after being looted and stripped bare by marauding IDED staffers after it was closed, $150,000 is not only inadequate but an insulting low amount. Computers need to be bought, enough staff needs to be hired, a film guide needs to be reconstructed and a whole new locations database has to be constructed from scratch and these few legislators want to provide the office with pocket change.
Budget cuts were a very strong factor in the decline of the original Iowa Film Office. At one time we had the opportunity to attract films like "Field of Dreams" and "The Bridges of Madison County" but then the budget was trimmed and with that the original head of the office left. When the office needed more money to compensate for the fact that other states were now offering film incentives, the legislator cut resources. The limited resources contributed to it only having a limited salary to offer a Film Office manager, certainly not the conditions to hire the most qualified person. And we all know where that led... And even after than, when film tax incentives complicated things, when it would have been prudent to increase the budget in order to hire someone who knew what they were doing in regards to film tax incentives they decreased the budget almost directly after the passed the legislation bringing these incentives into being.
Yes, the new Iowa Film Office - the new one that will be under the umbrella of Cultural Affairs and will not have tax incentives to complicate things - definitely does need the whole $400,000 in order to get off the ground and become effective at doing its job. If nothing else, it probably needs even more that what is being asked for. If only $150,000 is allocated for it, it will be about like not even having a film office because it will not have the resources to do its job.
Write the members of the House. All of them if you can. Most of them if you must. Most definitely the House Republicans. Show your displeasure for this proposed reduction and let them know that cuts didn't work in the past and they are certainly not a good way to get started this time around.
Here is a link to the page that has email addresses of members of the Iowa House of Representatives:
https://www.legis.iowa.gov/Legislators/house.aspx
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