Louisiana's Movie Man
Mark Smith has worked hard to make the state more 'film friendly'
By J.D. VENTURA
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Advocate staff writer
he state's entertainment industry director is a recovering alcoholic.
His beloved father died of a heart attack.
And his mom has lung cancer.
Mark Smith isn't afraid to talk about these things. Because, he says, he has learned to "deal with life on life's terms." That doesn't mean the 44-year-old lawyer who many credit with creating Louisiana's now-thriving film industry is a victim of passivity. Hardly.
But knowing how to play the cards you've been dealt has undoubtedly come in handy, especially when you are in charge of getting the slow-moving machinery of state government to function by Hollywood's fast-paced terms. Making Louisiana "film friendly" has been his mission for the past eight years, four of which he has spent in director roles.
Despite some recent budgetary criticism of the 2002 Louisiana Motion Picture Incentive Act, which he was instrumental in passing, few would dispute that Smith has been a driving force in bringing more than $500 million dollars worth of movie business to the state.
Those who know him say his professional bilingualism, his fluency in governmental legalese as well as the language of big studio Los Angeles, has made him the go-to guy for film producers and state lawmakers alike. He has a reputation as a red-tape cutter, but, he says, scissors are not his preferred tool. He's not about dismantling government. Instead, "facilitation is what we do best," he says.
That he ran the Boston Marathon in under three hours seems about right. He is one of those Blackberry-toting, digital-watch-wearing, conference-call-in-the-car executives who seems to get people excited with the sheer velocity of his schedule.
...graduated from SU Law Center and PASSED THE BAR THE FIRST TIME! 
