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Because you can't make a movie without an iPod for your son

September 29, 2009

Making a movie is more complicated than us Iowa rubes can imagine. Not only do you need lights, cameras, crews, actors, and stuff like that; you also need... iPods and feather beds!.

The Des Moines Register tracked down the Bruce Isacson, the producer who bought the Land Rover with Iowa taxpayer money, and it turns out he really, really needed all kinds of stuff, bought by us of course:

Isacson said former Iowa Film Office manager Tom Wheeler told "South Dakota" movie makers that they could get one new car. An iPod was needed so his 15-year-old son could obtain royalty-free songs that saved the producers tens of thousands of dollars, he said.

Wow. I never knew an iPod was a magical talisman that made copyright royalties go away. And to think I always thought you could find things on the Internet like songs with a computer. Apparently you have to use an iPod. Maybe Iowa should have that bright boy take the vacant Film Office director job.

Isacson said he lived at Stoney Creek Inn in one room and even did his own laundry, noting that most directors have more luxurious places.

"There were no limits at all," Isacson said of Iowa’s tax credit. "I could have stayed in the most expensive hotel, in the presidential suite" and it would have been part of the credit.

Sadly, that part is probably true. He probably left some of our money on the table. What a guy.

The sports utility vehicle is in the company name and is being driven by Isacson. A feather bed was purchased because he has back problems and needed one like he had in his home, Isacson said.

Sometimes you have to pamper a few sensitive spines in the name of economic development.

Hearing the stuff that Mr. Isacson seems to have openly got us to pay for, it's no wonder that the deputy state auditor preparing to look into the program is worried:

"Whenever the state wants to do a particular program, there is an obligation to fund it, to provide the oversight, to provide the controls, to protect the resources — everything I see so far doesn’t indicate that happened in this case," said deputy state auditor Warren Jenkins.

But hey, the movie people buy T-shirts here! That makes it worth $363 million!