St. Louis County film incentive already bearing fruit
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In December, St. Louis County commissioners approved an incentive program to lure filmmakers, along with their pocketbooks and jobs, to the region. It’s bearing fruit already.
“Over 30 projects have expressed interest,” Film North Executive Director Andrew Peterson told MPR News host Tom Crann. “I’m consulting with one that has Oscar winners, and they were looking at another space and saw the incentive in St. Louis County and knew that it would work creatively for them. So it did put the region on their radar when it wouldn’t have been before.”
Peterson said that project is expected to begin filming in the fall.
He said an equipment house and other film-related businesses are also starting up in the area to take advantage of the expected rise in business.
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The incentive is run by the Upper Midwest Film Office and offers filmmakers up to $1 million in rebates on eligible production expenses. The incentive would be on top of the state’s existing incentive, which has decreased in recent years. The hope is that movie productions will hire local workers and spend at local production and hospitality businesses.
Peterson said the stacked incentives will help Minnesota compete with other states that have been more competitive. Minnesota filmmaker Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr. shot his recent film, “Wild Indian,” in Oklahoma because it kept production costs down. The film competed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
“What I think Minnesota and our region has to its advantage is that we have unique points of view and distinctive storytelling,” Peterson said. “And a lot of that comes from the indigenous communities here.”
Corbine joins several other Native filmmakers from Minnesota who have recently earned prestigious fellowships and taken home accolades. The new film incentive in St. Louis County could help them bring jobs home, too.
Peterson joined MPR News’ All Things Considered to talk about film in Minnesota and Film North’s involvement in the Sundance Film Festival. Click play on the audio player above to hear the conversation.
