Brown: Resurgent film industry can elevate Minnesota to the A-list

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Film has always traded in fantasy. But it also has the power to shape how places are branded and remembered. Minnesota, despite its sweeping beauty, range of landscapes and abundance of scenic water, remains largely absent from the global imagination.

That is a missed opportunity. Our state is a blank canvas for filmmakers, especially up North, where the gorgeous vistas we often take for granted have yet to appear in movies.

“We are untouched,” said Shari Marshik, director of the Upper Minnesota Film Office (UMFO) in Duluth. “We’re like one of those beaches that nobody has ever walked on.”

You might watch movies at the local cineplex, in your home or on your phone, but no matter where you are, movies and television transport us to another world, one we’re willing to pay to see.

That means that film is also big business. Movies and TV account for 2.3 million jobs in the U.S., according to the Motion Picture Association. This work generates $229 billion in wages, and more than $21 billion paid to other businesses for goods and services. Earlier this month, Netflix bid over $82 billion to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Studios and HBO, roughly akin to the market capitalization of General Motors and U.S. Steel combined. The high stakes Hollywood drama further escalated days later, when Paramount launched a hostile takeover bid offering $108 billion for the entire Warner Bros. company.

A 2023 study conducted for UMFO by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of Minnesota Duluth showed the local economic impact of the film business. Among the findings: Money from films was re-spent 6.9 times on related goods and services within communities, making each production a big boost to the local economy.

Marshik suggests Minnesota set a goal of becoming 1% of the U.S. industry. Even a small share of the business would bring hundreds of millions into the state economy.

“We can get more than 1%,” she said. “That’s not an unrealistic thing, but we have to build it from the ground up. We have to understand that we have to make some investments to make sure that we have infrastructure.”

One fact about Minnesota’s film industry might surprise you. Right now, more films are shot in northern Minnesota than in the Twin Cities. Most are independent films with budgets under $2 million.

The northland attracted many of these film productions thanks to additional incentives offered by St. Louis County, the city of Duluth and the state Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation. These incentives can be combined with the state rebate, making film production here very affordable.

Filmmaker Mandy June Turpin has made eight movies in northern Minnesota, including “Rescuing Christmas” and “Merry Kiss Cam.” Along the way she relocated to the region.

Robert Enriquez, a Filipino American filmmaker from Los Angeles, has produced and directed three movies in northern Minnesota since 2021. The latest, “Stone Creek Killer,” launched on streaming services in late November.

Enriquez demonstrates how a new industry can affect the local community.

When he came to Chisholm to film “Cash for Gold,” Enriquez looked for a coffee shop where he could work, but there wasn’t one. So when he wrapped production, he and a local crew member partnered to start one. Today, the Black Bear Bakery and Café is still open on Lake Street in Chisholm and just opened a second location on Howard Street in Hibbing.

Enriquez said he now looks for scripts that can be shot here because it’s his preferred location, and he thinks other filmmakers will like it, too.

For northern Minnesota, going to the next level would require the construction of a soundstage. The UMD’s film industry study estimated the cost of this project at just under $64 million two years ago, a hefty investment that comes with economic benefits. This kind of project might attract some local public support but would need a primary investor to build and operate the facility.

Even if you don’t have the money to become a studio mogul, you can help build film in Minnesota by sharing locations that filmmakers could consider, including beautiful, interesting or even ugly places. If you have experience in the industry, you can also enter your name on the skill directory at mnfilmtv.org.

“Minnesotans can be pretty humble and sometimes film requires people to be a little more braggy and loud,” said Nell Lawrenz-Wareham, deputy director of Explore Minnesota Film. “This really does help us land projects and get people working.”

Both UMFO and Explore Minnesota Film sponsor workforce development to place people in the film industry.

“For the amount of films and TV shows that have been going, I feel like [northern Minnesota] has had a good portion of it,” said Enriquez. “Now I think it’s finally going to start growing fast again and that’s going to be good for everybody.”