By Kim Bousquet
WORLD-HERALD NEWS SERVICE
Metro/Region

COUNCIL BLUFFS — An 18-year-old film company headquartered in Los Angeles has relocated to Council Bluffs .

Steve Lustgarten, a native of Omaha and the president of the film distribution and production company LEO Films, was up front about why the company moved.

“The Iowa tax credits attracted me,” Lustgarten said.

In May 2007, Iowa began offering filmmakers financial incentives to produce their projects in Iowa . The state offers transferable income tax credits valued up to 50 percent of the total qualified spending in Iowa .
Advertising

Bills that would have given similar incentives to moviemakers in Nebraska have been introduced in the State Legislature, but none has passed yet.

Iowa instituted a number of changes this year to try to make the state an even more attractive location. Under the original program terms, no pay to the director, principal producer or principal talent was eligible toward the total qualified spending in Iowa — even if those people were Iowans. Now, portions of pay to the director, principal producer or principal talent are eligible if the project’s total spending meets guidelines.

The incentives seem to be working. According to the Iowa Film Office Web site, just two movies were filmed in 2006. Since 2007, fourteen films have been made or shot scenes in Iowa .

On the list was Polynation Pictures LLC’s “The Scientist,” which had scenes shot in Council Bluffs in October 2008. Like LEO Films, Polynation, formerly of Minnesota and owned by Omaha native Wendy Weiner and writer-director-producer Zach LeBeau, moved its home base to Iowa because of state tax incentives.

“The legislation helps attract film companies,” said Bob Mundt, president and CEO of the Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce. “But we’d also like to think our beautiful city, convenient location and affordability make Council Bluffs an ideal place to make a movie. We’d love to do more.”

More films have been shot in the area since “The Scientist” and have yet to be added to the film office’s list. In July, Reel Entertainment stayed in Council Bluffs for its work on a documentary about RAGBRAI, the popular annual bike ride across Iowa .

According to the Convention and Visitors Bureau, two other production companies are on the books to shoot here, not including LEO Films. A horror comedy is being filmed in the area, and Ten/Four Pictures is filming the dark romantic comedy “Lucky” in town.

The films pump money into the local economy.

“We love having movies filmed in Council Bluffs because the crew stays in our area hotel rooms. Sometimes film crews need office space, extra actors, and the crews certainly need food, fuel and entertainment in the off-hours. All those expenses mean a direct economic impact of over $150,000. Overall that means nearly a half-million dollar impact in indirect benefit for Council Bluffs ,” said Josee Beier, director of convention sales for the bureau.

Lustgarten and LEO Films have already relocated to the area, though no offices are set up. The plan is to begin shooting the feature-length thriller “My Own Blood,” written, directed and produced by Lustgarten, this month. Lustgarten expects filming to take three to four weeks.

Still in the planning stages, the scenes will be shot mostly around the Bluffs, using locations like houses, apartments and restaurants as backdrops for scenes. For some scenes, though, shooting may be done in Des Moines .

The cast and crew will be mostly local hires, as Lustgarten brought no one along with him in the film company’s move. He said the cast will be between 12 and 15 people, with about 10 to 20 extras. The crew will be about 20 people.

“No one is from L.A. ,” Lustgarten said. “I’m trying to source it all locally.”

Lustgarten got his start in film during the indie film movement’s early days. “American Taboo,” his portrayal of a man obsessed with his teenage neighbor, won a Student Academy Award in 1983, beating out Spike Lee’s “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.”

He moved to L.A. and worked on the creative side of film making before switching over to the business side. He started LEO Films in the fall of 1991, which has developed 80 feature films.

An eclectic film roster reflects the company’s aim to provide a broad base for independently produced films no matter what their subject matter and audience. Some of the company’s 2009 releases include “Flesh Suitcase,” a film about drug mules; “Eye,” a cat-and-mouse thriller about a female judge who has discovered her daughter has been kidnapped; and “Space Zombies,” a film about the living dead from outer space who come to Earth.

With “My Own Blood,” Lustgarten has gotten back into the creative side of filmmaking. It will be the sixth film he has written, directed and produced.

Lustgarten said he hopes to stay in the area and produce more films.

“As long as we can make it work, we’ll do quite a bit of films,” Lustgarten said.