Kathy DiToro, executive VP/ director of broadcast production at Campbell Mithun, Minneapolis, has been involved in her fair share of high profile, well received, creatively fulfilling commercials over the years. But at press time, she was in the midst of arguably one of the more significant projects in her career—and it’s not a TV spot. It’s a short video that is being made for the purpose of selling something of utmost importance to her state’s economy and filmmaking community: the Minnesota Film and TV Board, which is the longstanding state film commission.
DiToro is spearheading the creation and production of the video, which will be screened for state legislators this month. The video—with two versions, one at a planned length of four minutes, the other at perhaps as long as 10 minutes—articulates the case for maintaining funding for the Minnesota Film and TV Board. As reported in this week’s issue (see story, p. 7), the overall state budget proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) eliminates funding altogether for the film office. Cutbacks and discontinued programs are prevalent in Minnesota’s budget due to a record deficit running in the billions of dollars.
The Minnesota House of Representatives and Senate must approve the final budget, however, meaning there’s a chance that allocations for programs deemed important can be fully or partially restored. The video targets these legislators in hopes of retaining the state-provided $330,000 in annual operations money for the Minnesota Film and TV Board.
A member of the Film and TV Board, DiToro has assembled a team of volunteers to make the video, including independent filmmaker Slater Crosby, who will direct and lens the project; Ken LaMere, Campbell Mithun’s in-house editor; and graphic artist Danny Schmidt of Push Media, Minneapolis. Additionally, boutique agency Risdall Linahan, Minneapolis, is developing a brand identity campaign for the film commission.
For the video, DiToro is deploying interviews with members of Minnesota’s filmmaking community ranging from producers to support people, as well as residents whose livelihoods and lives are positively impacted by filming in the state. Among the key points she would like the video to make to legislative decision-makers are: that the Minnesota Film and TV Board is not an arts organization, but an economic development entity; that the film commission helps generate revenue that far exceeds its operational budget; and that the film office is not only an essential part of—but also helps to create—an "ecosystem" that’s critical to the fiscal and artistic health of Minnesota.
On the latter score, DiToro observed, "The loss of the film commission would result in the loss of filming here. This in turn has a debilitating impact on the community or ecosystem of people who are a part of this industry. Filming breeds an infrastructure of qualified talent that helps to draw more business, but if we let that infrastructure or ecosystem die, Minnesota will lose out in the competition for filming, resulting in the state’s economy and its people getting hurt significantly."
Filming in the state is a clean, non-polluting industry that creates jobs, income tax revenue and generates money for crew people and local businesses (hotels, restaurants, dry cleaners, etc.), related DiToro. She added that having a filmmaking/arts community helps to draw new residents—and more talent and resources—into the state.
Craig Rice, executive director of the Minnesota Film and TV Board, said that failing to properly fund the film commission is economically shortsighted. He realizes the gravity of the situation in that the film commission could face possible extinction in just three months. "The campaign we’re waging," he said, "is a fight for survival."
