Murky Work At The Iowa Capitol

Four years of making the breathtaking (as in getting winded) walk up the steps to the Iowa State House.  The ups and downs, hope and despair, honesty and misdirection, a varied bouquet of experiences, all to stay on top of the revival of the Iowa Film Office!  And here we go again, Jay and I meeting with Iowa legislators to implement the idea that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.  We do squeak and it looks like the film office may get some grease at last.

It didn't take long for us to bump into our chief ally, Senator Bill Dotzler.  He said the senate appropriations study bill would be discussed as early as today and certainly by the end of the week.  I referred to the bill in my previous report, the one which included details in funding of the film office.  A reminder: the film office will be housed in Cultural Affairs and in a new Arts Division there.  After discussion in the senate, this bill will go to the house and then zig zag until everyone agrees on the language within the bill, such as the amount of money to be allocated for the film office.  Last year $200,000 was allocated, half of what Governor Branstad wanted, and now we know that half of that $200,000 has been spent.  One source told us that $100,000 was spent on "film-related business", although the film office isn't even reopened yet.  Another source said the money was more generally absorbed within state offices. (Hence the word "Murky" in the title of this report).

In addition, Jay and I also spoke with Rep. Dan Kelley and Anesa Kajtazovic, both of whom repeated their support for our mission.  A key player in all of this, Rep. Dave Deyoe, indicated that the Iowa House would likely go along with the Iowa Senate's recommendations after all is said and done.  It isn't clear if the remaining $100,000 in last year's film office budget would be supplemented to a lower House sum or added to the $400,000  suggested by the senate. 

We were told by Rep. Deyoe that he understood that the new Iowa Film Office director would be named next week.

Once the film office reopens, the new director will face a monumental task, to regain trust and interest from Hollywood producers.  Without tax credits in play the new director will have to use other incentives to make movies here worthwhile and attractive, such as our beautiful locations and talented and hardworking creative people.

Stay tuned.

Gene

photo: Jay and Gino