FILM OFFICE FIASCO
Last week, there was am editorial in the Boston Globe about the state of disarray that is Massachusetts film office situatiion. There are, in fact, two film offices. One, the Massachusetts Film Bureau, is a privitized orgfanization run by Robin Dawson, who used to be head of the state run film office, until it was unceremoniouslyu closed. The other, run by Mark Drago, of the Sports and Entertainment division, is seemingly state sanctioned.
For a state that is trying to bring in filmmaking business into the state, this is a confusiong state of affairs. Dawson, who was brought in by former governer, friend, and movie buff Paul Celucci, does deserve credit for blowing the whistle on the Teamsters, and for focusing some of her attention on regional filmmakers by having events at Sundance and Nantucket. Her mandate was, after all,, to try to bring business into the State, which, because they had their own crews, often did not do as much for the ocal film and video community as one might think. And what efforts did go toward the local people, were more due to the work of her deputy, Tim Grafft.
Drago, on the other hand, has few connections to or experience with the national film industry.and, when the Globe seemed to endorse Dawson, there was a major outcry from the local film community., The editorial writer said he had never see such a backlash.
What we have is a private film office that has little credibility with the local film industry, and a state office with little experience. Both are sending confusing signals to the people they serve and try to support. As has been true for the last few years there has been an utter lack of leadership in a film and video community that has an incredibe amount of talent. But BFVF is gone, as in the3 Mass Media Alliance (the constitiuancies of both never overlapped, however) Romney is a Mormon and could care less about the entertainment industry. Although the Teamsters are contained, there is still noone to go to for outside [roductions and noone to promote the talent that is here. Once upon a time, there were sixxteen years in arow where a documentary film from the Boston area got into competition at Sundance; nine years in a row for narrative film. But without local support and leadership, those days are unlikely to return.
For a state that is trying to bring in filmmaking business into the state, this is a confusiong state of affairs. Dawson, who was brought in by former governer, friend, and movie buff Paul Celucci, does deserve credit for blowing the whistle on the Teamsters, and for focusing some of her attention on regional filmmakers by having events at Sundance and Nantucket. Her mandate was, after all,, to try to bring business into the State, which, because they had their own crews, often did not do as much for the ocal film and video community as one might think. And what efforts did go toward the local people, were more due to the work of her deputy, Tim Grafft.
Drago, on the other hand, has few connections to or experience with the national film industry.and, when the Globe seemed to endorse Dawson, there was a major outcry from the local film community., The editorial writer said he had never see such a backlash.
What we have is a private film office that has little credibility with the local film industry, and a state office with little experience. Both are sending confusing signals to the people they serve and try to support. As has been true for the last few years there has been an utter lack of leadership in a film and video community that has an incredibe amount of talent. But BFVF is gone, as in the3 Mass Media Alliance (the constitiuancies of both never overlapped, however) Romney is a Mormon and could care less about the entertainment industry. Although the Teamsters are contained, there is still noone to go to for outside [roductions and noone to promote the talent that is here. Once upon a time, there were sixxteen years in arow where a documentary film from the Boston area got into competition at Sundance; nine years in a row for narrative film. But without local support and leadership, those days are unlikely to return.
1 Comments:
Enter the new "Massachussetts Production Coalition" - now it's getting interesting.
Kris
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