Dawn Wells, who portrayed Mary Ann on the famed TV show “Gilligan’s Island,” has a message for legislators when they visit the displays at ‘Idaho Film Day’ in the fourth-floor rotunda of the state capitol today. “We’re here for the incentives for the film industry,” she said. “I think we’re on our way. We really think it’s suitable for our area.”

Lawmakers approved a tax incentive for the film industry last year, and another is in the works. Wells, chairman of the board of the Idaho Film Institute in Driggs, said her focus at the institute is on training, “discovering the talent in Idaho and keeping them here.”

Along those lines, she was joined today in the capitol by young people dressed up as Gilligan and Mary Ann, along with Idaho potato icon “Spuddy Buddy,” a film crew with all its equipment filming people as they walked by, and displays that ringed the entire rotunda from Idaho businesses that are in film or related fields. Along with the message, many legislators were bestowed plastic flower leis to match the island theme, and a lighted palm tree twinkled in a capitol corner.

---

---