Monday, June 09, 2008

What? No bell-bottoms for the mayor?

The Shreve's head honcho got squeezed out of his shot at the big screen in 2003. While Mayor Cedric Glover was a state legislator in 2003, the movie "Ray" came to film a scene at the House chamber in Baton Rouge. Apparently, many Louisiana elected officials got first dibs at being extras. Many, that is, except Glover, who couldn't find a 70s get-up.

"What they had in central costuming obviously didn't fit yours truly," the mayor said today while hosting a meeting at the Robinson Film Center.

There, Glover and local industry leaders were working to rally support for the film industry's tax credits. In specific, the infrastructure credit will lapse at the end of the year without intervention. Glover wants a special legislative session to be called before the end of 2008, which would specifically address the state's tax credit program. While the legislature could revisit the infrastructure credit in the spring, Glover and the group want to be proactive and keep the incentives going.

Keep them internationally competitive, keep them going, the gist is. Glover and the group head to Baton Rouge Wednesday to talk with anyone who will listen.

The Mayor's office is also organizing a Louisiana Film Summit – a meeting of the minds for the state's producers, crew, talent, businesses, etc. – for early August in Shreveport.

You'll learn a bit more in tomorrow's Times.

UPDATE 9:50 a.m. Tuesday: Here's the article.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks Mr. Kent for keeping the readers informed about the happenings in the local film and entertainment industry. I always read your articles and blogs and find them to be quite enlightening.

Anonymous said...

Instead of bell bottoms, mayor Cedric Glover should be wearing an orange jumpsuit and leg shackles. He tried to steal police funds to buy himself a new SUV - and nobody seems to care about all the corrupt practices of his office.
Malfeasance in office is a good way to describe his "accomplishments" and goals.
By the way, the murder rate in Shreveport is up almost 50% from the last administration. I'm sure this will keep industry away and will eventually run off the film industry.
What a disgrace to Shreveport.

Anonymous said...

You need a hobby and quite spreading those kind of rumors. Check the facts. The murder rate is not up and hell what do you expect the mayor to do - start policing the streets. I commend him for hiring a top cop and he is doing a GREAT job.

Just because your candidate, Jones, did not win, you should not make these kind of accusations. If you don't like it move or run for mayor yourself.

Anonymous said...

I thought this was a movie blog!!!!

Anonymous said...

I read the Times article a while back about the increase in murder in shreveport and no doubt Glover has let the city go under. The thugs are taking over. Chaos everywhere. There are regular shootings directly behind Stageworks at the clubs and its just a matter of time before something bad happens to a film crew member or actor.
Also, there are no traffic cops around Stageworks and I've seen several people almost get killed by careless speeding drivers running lights, so be careful or you may get run over by a gangbanger.
I think Mayor Glover is protecting his people at the expense of the community.