Association for the Future of Film and Television

This week, Nathan Lux of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment & Music Commission has resigned his position with the state.

You might not know Nathan personally. He maintained a fairly low profile at the Commission but was responsible for nearly all of the technical innovations adopted by the Commission over the last  eight years. Since incentives were implemented in 2007, he has also been the one overseeing the incentive process and keeping tabs on every dime promised and paid.

It’s impossible for most of you to realize what a loss Nathan will be to the small group of dedicated people who have recruited projects, held producer hands, worked through the bureaucracy of state government, adapted to the ways of several Executive Directors and worked overtime to respond to the entertainment community’s calls for help.

Nathan was the first person at my door when I arrived at the 9th floor of the Tennessee Tower in Nashville to act as the Deputy Director of the Commission. A newlywed, not long out of college, longish hair, a drummer for a rock band and keenly savvy about the new wave of technology, Nate sped around my office helping me through the state maze of procuring a phone (and figuring out how to use it), setting up a computer with a state email account and showing me all the mundane details of working within a governmental framework.

I have watched Nathan mature over the last eight years into someone the state should have made a grand effort to keep. He wanted to stay. Now a young man with a wife and a son, it was simply impossible for Nathan to refuse an offer that would immediately and significantly increase his income along with assurances of career and financial advances in the future.

The administration should have pulled out the stops to retain such a bright and enthusiastic employee. The state commissioners should not be the only ones receiving better incomes to alleviate the issue of their being recruited away by the private sector. Here is a state employee with nearly 10 years of experience in a highly specialized field and a depth of knowledge of state government workings to boot.  Is it any wonder that state employees are perceived by the public as bottom feeders? I know that to be a sad misconception, but you have to ask yourself why they let the best and brightest get away, don’t you? And for all of us fighting to create better days for the industry, the disquieting notion hangs like a sinister cloud over our heads: is this a process of gradually dismantling the state film office? Now there are only two people remaining.

The administration (like it or not) has been very slow in determining the future for the film commission and the use of incentives to recruit projects to the state. They want to be sure that they do the right thing and that is understandable. However, allowing the small but highly knowledgeable staff of the film commission to dwindle only makes implementing a new or different plan that much more difficult. Without confidence that there IS a plan, the staff must, certainly, consider their options. Nathan has done that. His options are better elsewhere.

I hope that all of you will take a minute to call or email Nathan to thank him for his service to you and wish him well as he steps away from this job.

(615) 741-3456  or Nathan.Lux@tn.gov.

Please endure my personal note here: During my time at the commission, I became incredibly fond of our staff. We were like a small family that endured against all odds….creating a lasting bond. Since leaving the commission, I have been fortunate enough to continue my friendships there.  Now, with Nathan’s departure, I feel very much like I did when my youngest child finally left for college. I knew she wasn’t gone, never-to-be-seen again. But the little bird had taken her fledgling flight and the dynamics of the “nest” would never be the same thereafter. Knowing this, I cried all the way home after leaving her securely nestled in her new dormitory home. I feel compelled to do the same now.