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Made in Iowa
Dozens of major motion pictures have been produced in Iowa
in the last two decades drawing hundreds of thousands of dollars
to the state. But beside the Hollywood lights and stars that
grace the state during the shoots, Iowa has its own production
companies that assist in movie productions, national advertising
campaigns, and national events. Here’s a short overview
of some of them.
• DHG Productions in Des Moines does most of
its work on digital video and produces its own DVDs. They
have produced videos for such Fortune 500 companies as Coca-Cola
(for whom they are currently producing a training video on
soda machines to be sent to McDonald’s businesses nationwide)
and UPS, and commercials with one of NASCAR’s favorite
drivers, Rusty Wallace.
• Image Mill in West Des Moines works primarily
with local advertising agencies and has its own animation
studio for traditional (cartoon-like) and digitial (computer-generated)
animation.
• Iowa Teleproduction Center, Inc., broadcasts
the Powerball lottery nationwide to states that participate
in the lottery. They also produce many of Pioneer Hi-Bred
International’s commercials out of their West Des Moines
studio. During the 2000 Iowa caucus, they used satellite uplinking
to broadcast many of the politicians and celebrities in Des
Moines.
• LP Productions-The Write Touch is based in
Ankeny and has worked on such projects as the Adventures of
Jack Levine television show and the highly acclaimed film
The Bridges of Madison County. The owner, Shirley Long, hosts
the biannual Iowa Screenwriter’s Boot Camp, an intense
conference that draws screenwriters from across the country
to polish their works. The company is also preparing a pilot
for a television series about an immigrant Iowa family.
• Metro Communications in Cedar Rapids has produced
shows for MSNBC, Fox, ESPN, and the television show Hardball.
They own a satellite uplink truck, which means they can tape
an event live, feed it to satellite, and send it to television
stations across the country for live viewing–technology
they’ve used to tape baseball games for the Philadelphia
Phillies, a WCW event in Sioux Falls, soccer games for the
Dallas Sidekicks, and the 1999 NCAA Volleyball championships
held in Lincoln, Nebraska. During the 2000 caucus, Metro did
a number of live interviews with Al Gore for news stations
across the country.
• Nuearth Productions, also in Des Moines, worked
with actor John Ratzenberger, otherwise known as Cliff Clavin
from Cheers, on a national commercial filmed in Iowa. They
have also done commercials with the McCaughey family of Carlisle
and their septuplets.
• SR Audio-Cinemedia Productions has worked with
such companies as Warner Brothers, PBS, Nike, and Walt Disney
from their Des Moines studio. SR works with the Disney production
company to produce Disney-like spectaculars for corporations
around the country and is one of only two studios in Iowa
that can digitally connect to another studio in another location,
which means people don’t have to be in the same place
to record something.
• Terry L. Butz Productions producers work out
of their Waterloo studio and have a branch office in Los Angeles.
They have produced commercials for the California-based company
Isuzu and commercials with actor Tom Bosley, who was a cast
member on Happy Days.
• Time Frame Productions in Des Moines is one
of the oldest production companies in the area. It has worked
with Father Guido Sarducci from Saturday Night Live, Pioneer
Hi-Bred International, Hy-Vee, and actor GregAlan Williams
from Baywatch. They have also done commercials with former
governors and senators, and covered the U.S. Grand Prix car
race.
• VisionPoint Productions in Des Moines produces
corporate informational videos, such as a sexual harassment
video for the Department of Justice that starred Janet Reno.
They also produced a short fundraising video for Kiwanis International
that has won several awards.
• XAP Productions, Inc., based in Iowa City,
is developing a touch screen for a bank in Keokuk which will
include 3-D graphics. The system will have 3-D people responding
to a customer’s inquiries about the bank. They also work
with digital video and recently released a documentary about
University of Iowa professor Mauricio Lasansky’s "Nazi
Drawings."
–Stacey Rice is an intern with the
magazine.
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