Film tells tale of Boise as a creative place

Idaho Business Review
by Lora Volkert
01/30/2006

The Idaho Legislature may have gone a little overboard last year in its assessment of the impact of Napoleon Dynamite, the cult movie filmed in Preston, Idaho.

In the resolution the Legislature passed to praise filmmakers Jared and Jerusha Hess, some of the "whereas" statements include "whereas, Tater Tots figure prominently in this film, thus promoting Idaho's most famous export" and "whereas, Rico and Kip's Tupperware sales and Deb's keychains and glamour shots promote entrepreneurism and self-sufficiency in Idaho's small towns."

But they may have been in the right spirit. Film can serve Idaho in multiple ways, argues Madeline Behrendt, the executive director of Idaho Women Filmmakers.

It can help tell the state's story to a larger audience. That was her goal with the first episode of bCreative, a 15-minute documentary she filmed about Boise's creative class which premiered at last year's Idaho International Film Festival and is set for a DVD release in February.

The film takes as its premise the theories of Richard Florida, author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class, who says that cities' economies thrive based on their ability to attract a creative, talented workforce.

His theory posits that creative workers live in cities they find attractive, and companies that require their talent are moving to those cities, whereas historically the opposite was true - workers moved to where companies were located for jobs.

In an article he wrote for Washington Monthly, also called "The Rise of the Creative Class," Richard Florida ranked Boise No. 5 for creativity among small cities. Although it lagged in diversity, he ranked Boise No. 3 in creativity and No. 1 in high-tech and innovation.

Florida identified three factors in the creativity in an area: technology, talent, and tolerance of diversity. Behrendt's documentary explores the reasons Boise fits that model.

The film interviews visual artists who live in the area; notes technology employment figures at Micron and Hewlett-Packard and economic data on the arts in Idaho; and includes a montage of images from Boise Contemporary Theater, Ballet Idaho, the Log Cabin Literary Center, the Flicks, the Idaho International Film Festival, software firm Blackfin Technology, the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial and posters from the Valentine for AIDS art auction at the Flying M, which raises funds for AIDS patients.

Behrendt said she wanted to make the film "a tool for Idaho to use" to promote itself and tell its story.

"Where creative people live is a huge topic," she said. "Boise's number one for business, so people will want to see what we're doing right. When you see this, you'll know why people are moving to Boise."

Idaho companies, entrepreneurs and economic development officials could use the film to recruit businesses or employees, send it to potential funding sources, or show it at trade shows and conferences, she said.

Idaho has a lot of stories to tell, Behrendt said. She plans to make bCreative into a documentary series, with the second film about Boise's real estate boom, the green building techniques used in Gary Christensen's Banner Bank building and the sense of place she sees being created in David Hale's Linen District.

She has ideas for three other films on Boise industries and business trends: technology, recreation and individual entrepreneurs.

But beyond telling the story of Idaho, film itself can contribute to the Idaho economy as an industry.

Employment in the U.S. motion picture and video industries is projected to grow 31 percent between 2002 and 2012, double the growth rate for industry in general, according to the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In Idaho, the growth has been much more dramatic. The gross state product for the motion picture and sound recording industries grew 64.7 percent between 1997 and 2003, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Idaho Film Industry Task Force included the above statistics in a report recommending Idaho offer media production sales and income tax rebates, identify state land and buildings where filmmakers can film without paying fees, hire a manager and marketing staff for the Idaho Film Bureau, and allot more money for public relations efforts marketing the benefits of filming movies in Idaho, among other recommendations.

We're still talking small change - $28 million in revenue in 2003 for the whole industry.

But for that matter, NAND flash was a pretty small industry too, once. Micron didn't have a banner year this year by ignoring growth trends.

Film may never be a big industry in Idaho, but it could help diversify Idaho's economy somewhat. And related industries could crop up around it - for example, attorneys who specialize in film contracts.

And in the words of Napoleon, that could be "pretty sweet."

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