Film industry advocates promote Idaho
While visitors and film buffs were busy enjoying the movies and events during the Schweitzer Lakedance International Film Festival in Sandpoint last week, film professionals and advocates were busy working behind the scenes to promote the film industry in Idaho.
At a meeting Saturday, members of Kootenai North Idaho Film and Video Entertainment Society and the Idaho Film Industry Advisory Committee met with local legislators, area economic development officials, and local film industry professionals to share information on the current status of Idaho’s film industry.
Rep. Eric Anderson, Sen. Joyce Broadsword, Sen. Shawn Keough and a couple of candidate hopefuls were joined by Sandpoint Mayor Gretchen Hellar and others to hear the importance of increasing Idaho’s share of what has become America’s No. 1 export, according to IFAC co-chairman Ted Williamson – movie and entertainment media.
IFAC member Russ Simons of Rathdrum, a former Disney employee, said the committee is working to establish the infrastructure to serve the film industry in Idaho. The passage of a bill sponsored by Anderson earlier this year, established the Motion Media Rebate Program, an incentive program that includes a cash rebate for production costs on media projects that spend at least $200,000 in Idaho and employ a 20 percent Idaho work force – but it was passed without a funding mechanism.
The challenge now, said Simons, is to find a way to finance our incentive package that was modeled after Utah’s successful incentive program. The Utah program has returned $12 to its economy for every dollar spent by production companies and helped create 1,700 jobs in the past two years, according to state officials. That could be Idaho’s future, said Simons, but until the incentive program is funded, the state is unlikely to attract outside production companies, either large or small.
Jobs Plus Economic Development Specialist Hilde Shetler said Jobs Plus is supportive of bringing the movie industry to the area and emphasized the importance of incentives to site locators, professionals companies hire to analyze areas for possible expansion or relocation. Shetler also recognized growth in the movie industry as good, solid economic development. “Research has shown that states who partner with the film industry have shown significant revenue growth,” she said.
Williamson agreed and cited New Mexico as a great example of a state that has learned how to attract media production dollars. “The paradigm that Hollywood is the center of the universe has broken down,” he said. “We’ve seen that.” With rebate incentives, film loans and a 50 percent reimbursement program for on-the-job training for New Mexico residents, state officials report the state (some are calling “Hollywood Southwest”) has attracted more than 80 feature films and television projects in the past five years, adding more than $1.2 billion to the local economy and creating 3,000 new in-state jobs.
In addition to seeking funding for the incentive bill, committee co-chair Doug Copsey said IFAC is working to develop a network of film media professionals in the state and to support the developing film industry through film and media related workshops and seminars.
A coalition of media professionals has recently coalesced, according to Copsey, with the development of KNIFVES in 2006 and the later development of Idaho Media Professionals in Boise. Now under a joint 501(c)(3) umbrella, the two groups give state officials the professional film media contacts they need to promote the industry.
Following the committee presentations, Ed Evans, owner of “Goin Hot,” a Los Angeles transport and electrical rental business that caters to the entertainment industry, told the group they are headed in the right direction. “Everything you say is absolutely correct. You guys got a great thing going here, and I’m really excited to see it,” said the businessman, who has watched some of his business go to New Mexico. “You have the state, the cities; you have the film industry. All you have to do is marry this, and you can make this happen. If you give the right incentive, there will be people here next month – I guarantee it.”