Rock Island plans to host a new regional film office in Quebec

Film and media consultant Doug Miller has worked for more than three decades to attract and coordinate film production in the Quad Cities region.

He is now hired by the economic development team of the town of Rock Island to officially establish a new regional film office in Quebec. This week, the city council approved a one-year contract with Miller and his company, Two Rivers & Associates, which will be funded by a $65,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Doug Miller, veteran film and media consultant in QC.

Miller is “well positioned to advise local staff on best practices as the team works to formally establish the regional film office,” according to the board’s recommendation. The contract has a duration of one year and will be paid from the funds allocated to the start-up of the Film Office. The contract (which will pay the consultant $1,665 per month until June 2023) includes an option to extend the term for an additional year if the need exists.

Miller’s responsibilities to the City of Rock Island will include:

Advise city staff in creating an ordinance for Rock Island to streamline the application and permitting process.
Recommend all necessary municipal permits.
Work with city staff to develop a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed by participating communities/Film Office stakeholders.
Develop a website to showcase the Quad Cities area as a filming destination and provide information about the area.
Make a recommendation for membership in the Association of Film Commissioners International.
Identify and report on available manpower, manpower needed, training required, including cost and a plan for delivering the training, and recommendations on how to develop the manpower. work.
Prepare documentation for facilities that can accommodate productions.
Advise staff in efforts to support existing and emerging local filmmakers.
Guide the assessment of the feasibility of the concept of a film festival either as a stand-alone event or as a complement to an existing event.
Provide updates on industry news.
Provide Film Office referrals and respond to Film Office referrals.

The new film office would be a one-stop-shop for people inquiring about the region’s film production, to “ensure they’re getting in touch with the right people,” economic development manager Tarah Sipes said Wednesday. of the town of Rock Island.

“You want projects that would ideally be shot in Rock Island, that could have an economic impact for Rock Island, but serve the whole region,” she said.

“Film production is basically an economic development activity because ultimately they need hotel rooms, restaurants, businesses in our community and so we approach it from an economic development perspective” , said Sipes. “We are positioning ourselves as a good value proposition.”

Working with the Illinois Film Bureau

Miller – who led the QC Production Coalition and the former Quad City Film Coalition – is close to Illinois Film Office director Peter Hawley. He brought Hawley to the Rock Island Holiday Inn on August 19, 2021 to talk about incentives and state funding for filming, as part of the Alternating Currents festival.

Peter Hawley is director of the Illinois Film Office.

Film and television production in Illinois spent nearly $362 million in 2020, down 35% from the $560 million spent in 2019 at CQ.

“It’s tough because so many places in the state outside of Chicago don’t have the infrastructure and by infrastructure I mean the studio facilities and the team base,” Hawley said in last August. “But having said that, because we are producing more and more and globally in the state there is more production and there is more infrastructure. It’s getting easier and easier, and Hollywood is finally going to chase the dollar and they like it here and you have a really gangbuster year and they’re going to want to come to Illinois.

“I think the Quad-Cities of Illinois have a lot to offer for film production,” he said of potential locations and manpower.

“I believe there’s a shortage of sound stages all over the world,” said Miller on Wednesday, who noted that a large portion of Illinois’ film tax credits go to commercials. He wants QC’s new film office to be able to market the six-county region to businesses and filmmakers around the world.

“We want them to say, wait a second, they’ve done 20 movies there in the last 30 years,” Miller said. “It’s more than anyone between Chicago and Omaha, you know, and then being able to play those cards.”

The Illinois Film Office helps make filmmaking easier by offering a range of pre-production services through a central point of contact. It also serves as a liaison between government departments and agencies, facilitating links with local communities and arrangements for filming on public property.

The office also offers venue location photography assistance, a venue library, regional scouting services, and logistical information regarding crew, talent, facilities, stages, equipment, and services. Support.

Prior to the pandemic, filming in Illinois in 2019 had an economic impact of nearly $560 million in job creation and local spending, an 18% increase over the previous year.

Because production companies focus on the bottom line, Illinois filming tax credit incentives include:

30% of Illinois qualifying production spend.
30% credit on Illinois wages up to $100,000 per worker.
The tax credit can be carried forward for 5 years from its original date of issuance by the Illinois Film Office/Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
Additional 15% credit – applicants will receive an additional 15% tax credit on the wages of individuals (earning at least $1,000 in total wages) who live in economically disadvantaged areas with unemployment rates of at least 150% of the annual state average.

Rock Island’s Sipes attended the Illinois Film Office conference here last August and was impressed.

“I approached that kind of skepticism – how likely are we to have projects here?” she said Wednesday. “But listening to the way they talked about the film credit and the eagerness of investors to take advantage of that film credit, I think if we can help connect local filmmakers to this organization, I think that will help. to secure certain projects, even if we don’t shoot a successful film.

Partnership with organizations and places

Sipes recommended the sprawling QCCA Expo Center (2621 4^e Ave., Rock Island) as a good potential movie studio space.

“You have the high ceiling heights, the space that would be needed,” she said. “Busy season for the Expo Center is quiet season for the film industry and vice versa. Even if we could bring a small production to their factory, it benefits Rock Island; this benefits the Quad Cities.

Film production anywhere would require a wide variety of local services – from transport to hair and makeup, costumes, set builders, catering and electricity, she said. declared. “There are impacts that cascade down,” Sipes said.

The critically acclaimed 2008 baseball movie “Sugar” was partly filmed at Modern Woodmen Park in Davenport.

Rock Island will work with Miller and other QC groups (like the QC Chamber and Visit Quad Cities) to compile lists of qualified and experienced people who can work in the industry, put those contacts on a regional film website, and help to market the region.

“There are some really good movie board websites out there, like Georgia has a really killer website, with a great index,” Sipes said. “That could be an ambitious goal. You have an Illinois production guide, where people can search for different types of assistance or services, finding the best way for our people to be connected.

“We know we have people in the Quad Cities who do this kind of work, skilled craftsmen who could work on some of the jobs,” she said, adding that QC also offers a staggering variety of places to work. shooting easily accessible from urban to rural areas. .

Miller’s last major QC film project was coordinating filming for a new television series, which filmed in the area in late 2019. More than two years after filming exterior scenes for a series in Illinois’ Quad Cities , “The Now” premiered last December on the Roku channel.

“The Now” is a 14-episode comedy series, directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly. It stars Dave Franco, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Daryl Hannah and Jimmy Tatro. It was originally slated to debut in 2020 on Quibi, but was moved to The Roku Channel due to Quibi shutting down in December 2020.

QC filming locations for ‘The Now’ TV series included downtown Port Byron.

None of the show’s stars were in the local QC shoot, which took place over three days in November 2019, and featured shots in downtown Moline, Rock Island, Schwiebert Riverfront Park and Port Byron (including a police chase through his downtown with a fake Moline Squad car). The crew was based at East Moline’s Hyatt House/Hyatt Place, which was redone as an entrance to the emergency room for a morning shoot.

Miller hopes to bring Peter Hawley (whose parents live in Bettendorf) back to Alternate Currents this year, to have another roundtable on filming in the area. The QC film office would also partner with Fresh Films, which is based at Augustana College.

“We will try to partner with as many entities as possible initially,” Miller said. “I also want to work to try to encourage the next Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.”

Beck and Woods are Bettendorf natives and film critic darlings who penned the 2018 hit thriller “A Quiet Place.”