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Minnesota's Film Future in Doubt
By Bill Catlin
March 22, 1999
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Governor Jesse Ventura is in Hollywood to lure more movie production to Minnesota. Minnesota landscapes and crew members have played a supporting role in a number of successful Hollywood productions, and Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn recently met with the governor as part of a scouting trip to Minnesota.

But some of the 5,000 people who work in the industry here say Minnesota's film business is in a downward spiral.


JESSE VENTURA IS NO STRANGER to the film industry, having had roles in a number of movies, including "Predator" with Arnold Schwarzenegger, where Ventura lugs an enormous machine-gun through the jungle.

Ventura: Come on in. "Old Painless" is waiting ...
Governor Ventura says helping the state's film industry is simply a good investment because it generates jobs and promotes the state. The Minnesota Film Board says film projects have spent over $100 million in Minnesota this decade. The taxes generated represent a 5-to-one return on what taxpayers have spent on the film board's budget. The governor says movies can fuel tourism, which offers an even better return on taxpayers investment.
Ventura: You go out into the private sector, and you go up to any CEO and say "is it good if you invest one and get five or invest one and get nine." You don't have to be a brain surgeon to figure that one out.
The improbable romance between Walter Matthau and Sophia Loren was the centerpiece of "Grumpier Old Men," the sequel to "Grumpy Old Men." They were two of the biggest box office successes shot in Minnesota. Set in Wabasha, much of the filming actually occurred at Energy Park Studios in St. Paul. Tromping through deserted hallways to a sound stage, owner Jim Lund points to a momento of better times.
Lund: This fireplace was in Walter Matthau's house in "Grumpier Old Men."
Lund opens the door to a dimly lit room that used to house two indoor tennis courts. The cavernous space dwarfs a large moving van parked inside.
Lund: This is our studio three, which is the most popular for the motion-picture group. And "Grumpier Old Men" was shot in here. They built Walter's house over there and Jack's house here, side by side.
After Grumpier old men came another big Hollywood production, Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Jingle All The Way." Lund says business was great in the first couple of years, but it's been downhill since then. Now he's selling the place.
Lund: I'd say this we're down at least 50 percent from, let's say, two years ago.
MPR: Are you past break-even? Are you losing money?
Lund: We're losing money at a pretty good clip right now, yeah. It's, you know, a peaks-and-valleys business and you count on the average to keep all the bills paid and everything and it's just been going on too long now without enough work to pay the bills.
According to the Minnesota Film Board, Minnesota saw eight film productions a year of varying scale from 1995 through 1997. Last year it dropped to five, and there has been a six-month drought of major feature films. Randy Adamsick, Executive Director of the Minnesota Film Board says it's slow in many markets, even in Hollywood itself.
Adamsick: I was at Disney in November and a producer there was saying that he couldn't rent out the sound stages because, even though there were five Disney films being shot, they were all using stages in Canada rather than renting the lots right on the Disney studio.
Adamsick says several factors have allowed Canada to become a major draw for film, television and commercial production. The strong American dollar goes a lot further in Canada. The country also offers incentives for hiring local workers. Again Randy Adamsick.
Adamsick: It often comes down to 50-cents-on- the-dollar savings by going to Canada. I guess that applies to feature films, television, and commercials.
Governor Ventura says there's not much the state can do to counteract exchange rates. But two years ago the state adopted one Canadian strategy. The state will reimburse filmmakers up to $100,000 for hiring local workers. The film board is also asking lawmakers to make TV commercial production exempt from the sales tax. Officials say TV commercials are the biggest single piece of film production in Minnesota, and the tax, which other state's don't charge, drives production elsewhere.
Hartley: We are on the brink of ... I want to call it a crisis
Production manager and line producer Julie Hartley hires crews among her duties on feature films and commercials. She says many film industry workers are leaving Minnesota. She, herself, had to set up shop part time in Los Angeles.
Hartley: And what I'm seeing is the people that have amazing credits - designers on "The Big Lebowski", or location people . All of those are now either moving to Los Angeles or New York; or are taking other jobs. So they're not available.
Hartley and others say the loss of experienced workers, and the sale of the state's only large-scale sound stage, may cost Minnesota a critical mass of production capacity. That would make it even harder to attract film production to Minnesota. Officials with the Film Board agree, but they say the picture is brighter than Hartley portrays it.

Randy Adamsick of the Film Board says television show production is up dramatically, there are two new post-production facilities, and the $12 million spent on film projects last year was average for the decade. While he acknowledges its a slow time, he says people will come back from the coasts when business picks up. And Adamsick says the governor should help solve Minnesota's long-standing problem in Hollywood: getting the attention of decision-makers.
Adamsick: We've noticed it already, what a lightning rod for publicity and attention the governor can be . One tangible example is I don't know Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn would have even come here two weeks ago to look at the state. I think curiosity about meeting Governor Ventura was part and parcel of their visit here, because they had a film script that is set in Minnesota, but it was very premature to scout.
Minnesota has a stake in this year's Oscars. "A Simple Plan," which was shot in Minnesota last year is up for two Academy Awards. But Adamsick says the key to a stable industry is stoking the production of locally-based films. The state has the nation's first development fund for independent features, which provides seed money for Minnesota-based films. While in Los Angeles, the governor will introduce "With or Without You," the first funded project to reach completion.

Adamsick says if the film succeeds financially, it could fuel local production and make the state's industry less subject to the whims of Hollywood.

Bill Catlin is the Deputy Business Editor of Minnesota Public Radio. You can reach him at bcatlin@mpr.org