State official accused of threatening film project
The head of the Massachusetts Film Bureau has accused an official in a rival agency of threatening to use political influence to bully filmmaker Martin Scorsese's production executives into dealing exclusively with him.
In a letter to Governor Mitt Romney, Robin Dawson, the Film Bureau's executive director, said that Mark Drago, vice president of the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, has threatened to block Scorsese's team from getting permits from the city of Boston for its film production of ''The Departed."
Drago is also jeopardizing the state's chance of landing a $100 million Tom Hanks film production about John Adams by leaking information to the news media about the project, Dawson wrote.
A spokesman for the Sports and Entertainment Commission called the allegations baseless. And Mac Brown, the Scorsese film's producer, said he has not heard of the allegations Dawson raised in the letter.
But Dawson wrote the governor that Scorsese executives told her about Drago's threats.
Drago did not return a phone call or an e-mail seeking a response yesterday.
Dawson, who declined to comment, has appealed to Romney to step into the turf war, asking him to stop Drago from what she called a power grab to force Hollywood to deal exclusively with his office.
In 2003, Drago's agency expanded its mission from helping to organize sporting events to include attracting film and television projects for Massachusetts.
''Drago's negligent actions have just seriously jeopardized a $100 million production for the Commonwealth," Dawson said in the March 22 letter she wrote to Romney as she outlined the Hanks and Scorsese film problems. ''These are just two examples of projects that have been compromised by his unprofessional behavior."
Romney's director of communications, Eric Fehrnstrom, said the governor plans to meet with Dawson to ''discuss the concerns that she has regarding film and television production in Massachusetts."
The nonprofit Film Bureau was designated by the Legislature last year as ''the primary source provider for film and television productions and development in the Commonwealth."
Dawson was director of the Massachusetts Film Office from 1994 until it was closed in 2002 because of state budget cuts. The Film Bureau was created three months later. A year ago, Romney moved to take over the Massachusetts Sports and Entertainment Commission, naming Don Stirling, who had worked with him at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, its president. Drago, who worked for the agency, was appointed vice president.
Drago has strong ties to the Beacon Hill political establishment: He served as an advance man for Governors William F. Weld and Paul Cellucci, and he has cultivated close ties with the Democratic leadership in the House and Senate.
Keith Gainsboro, a spokesman for the Sports and Entertainment Commission, called the accusations ''completely baseless" and said the governor has entrusted the commission to be the state's principal agency to attract films to Massachusetts.
''This is a desperate cry for relevance on the part of the Massachusetts Film Bureau as we continue to make inroads within the film industry," Gainsboro said.
David Abel of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
