By the end of this week,the state agency that has helped produce two Oscar-nominated films in Missouri in the past two years will be killed off.
“Up in the Air” with George Clooney and the dark Ozark suspense movie “Winter’s Bone,” made use of the expertise and financial help of the Missouri Film Office. Governor Nixon put the office in his sights in January when he asked the legislature to eliminate it and its two staff members. The legislature appropriated money for it anyway. Nixon vetoed those funds.
The economic devleopment department distributes the film tax credits and spokesman John Fougere says it will absorb other duties and will develop the expertise to bring producers to Missouri.
The film office has been recruiting film producers for almsot thirty years. Its only two employees have been paid by the University of Missouri. They are not being retained.
Eliminating the film office will cut the state’s $23 billion budget by $175,000.
Listen to interview with John Fougere 7:05 mp3
