Give ‘Em Some Incentives
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That’s what Brenda Sexton will have to do in her new position as managing director of the Illinois Film Office. Her predecessor, Ron Ver Kuilen, says that when he left, annual business had dropped from $125 million to $30 million in two years, and that the only way to turn it around would be to make it cheaper to operate here. Industry people in Illinois are looking for financial aid from a state government that’s broke and refused to help even when it had money. Sexton, who was appointed three weeks ago, vowed to bring the government around when she was introduced at a meeting of the Illinois Production Alliance Tuesday night at the Chicago Hilton and Towers. Looking out at several hundred members of her new constituency, she said, “It breaks my heart that the burden of competing with Canada has been on all of you.”
Ver Kuilen left the Illinois Film Office in December after 23 years there, the last eight as director. He survived an attempt by Governor Ryan to dump him four years ago, when the local film industry was bringing in record amounts of money, only to watch helplessly as the business drained away, first to Canada and then to New Mexico and other states that enacted Canadian-inspired tax breaks while Illinois didn’t. “We drafted all the legislation,” he says, “but I didn’t have the political access to get it passed.” Ver Kuilen heard as early as last June that Sexton was interested in his job. “When one of the union guys said, ‘You’d better fucking pack your bags,’” he decided to take advantage of an early-retirement option. “Sometimes,” he says, “you need new blood.”
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): photo/Jim Newberry.
