Louisiana film industry still open despite Katrina

TORONTO - Louisiana's film industry is still open for business despite the damage inflicted by Hurricane Katrina, two state senators told a film industry crowd in Toronto on Monday.

In a round-table discussion planned months before Katrina ripped into the US Gulf Coast, the senators said future productions of films like previous Louisiana successes "Ray" and "The Dukes of Hazzard" will be a key pillar in the state's economic recovery from the disaster.

"This is one of the industries that can help us accomplish that, so it's very important for us to be here and say to this industry that Louisiana is still open for business," state Sen. Jay Dardenne, in town for the day with fellow lawmaker Arthur Lentini, told Reuters.

Organizers planned the event -- which also included members of Louisiana's film industry -- three months ago, hoping to pitch film-focused state tax incentives to movie industry executives in town for the Toronto International Film Festival.

When Katrina hit, the focus changed from a simple pitch for business to an impassioned plea for the well-being of the industry as a major component in the state's recovery.

Louisiana Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu had originally been slated to appear, but he bowed out due to the hurricane, sending the senators in his place. Dardenne defended his own decision to leave the damaged state for the trip to Canada.

"We have lots of responsibilities back home and lots going on, but one of the things I can do as someone who's been championing this industry is to be here and look at the industry and say it can still exist and flourish," he said, noting that his home district in Baton Rouge missed the brunt of the storm.

Will French, president of Louisiana Production Capital, a film tax-credit brokerage, said much of the film production infrastructure in the hard-hit city of New Orleans is undamaged and is just waiting for power to be restored.

- REUTERS