Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: So remember when Jimmy Fallon in his Tonight Show broadcast from Minnesota after the 2018 Super Bowl, Fallon joked about making Minneapolis a permanent home.

JIMMY FALLON: Hold on to your tater tots.

SPEAKER: Obviously, the show didn't move here, but as Brian Bakst tells us, the program did get a nice parting gift in the form of a check from Minnesota taxpayers

BRIAN BAKST: Jimmy Fallon embraced Minnesota during his February stay. He ate hot dish cooked by a suburban family.

JIMMY FALLON: I've never had this before. I love you guys. You guys are the best.

SPEAKER 2: Now you have experienced Minnesota

BRIAN BAKST: And he impersonated native son Bob Dylan riffing to the musician's famed "The Times They are A-Changin. It was a publicity score for the state, but it wasn't free. Records indicate the Tonight Show spent about $3 million to bring the stroke to Minneapolis and got nearly $267,000 back through a government rebate program. Meodie Bahan is executive director of the Minnesota Film and TV Board. She said the show was among the largest budget projects in her couple of years at the helm.

MELODIE BAHAN: Any time that a show comes here that's going to hire more than 100 people, local people, and pay them really good wages, that's a victory.

BRIAN BAKST: Minnesota's Snowbate program is aimed at luring productions and fostering local industry talent. But this wasn't an ordinary project, and there was plenty of internal debate about the subsidy. At first, Film Board staff told Fallon's team their talk show wouldn't qualify under Minnesota law, but that changed after the program was ultimately classified as a variety show.

MELODIE BAHAN: Once we determined that it was a variety show and not a talk show, then no, we would have had no reason to reject the application.

BRIAN BAKST: Documents show officials arrived at that conclusion after considerable back and forth and efforts by NBC to turn the decision around. Bahan solicited advice from the volunteer Snowbate Operations Committee, and there wasn't a lot of support for the subsidy. Advisory committee member Michelle Caron wrote the law was clear and questioned whether the project would get through an audit. In a recent interview, Caron elaborated.

MICHELLE CARON: I really thought they were in the talk show category. That's why I said no to them.

BRIAN BAKST: Caron is a longtime film industry consultant who still sits on the committee. More than a year later, she refers to the film board's decision because board members likely had more information.

MICHELLE CARON: If they received other evidence that determined that they were something other than a talk show and if they were comfortable with it, I mean, I trust their judgment.

BRIAN BAKST: At the time, some committee members noted the Snowbate budget was already tight. They argued that helping the Tonight Show would shove other projects aside. Local film producer Michael Tabor wrote it wasn't responsible to provide a subsidy with, in his words, "Almost no hope for return."

He said it shouldn't come down to semantics. Tabor referred questions to Bahan. Bahan says whether the Tonight Show would have come with or without the Minnesota money isn't relevant.

MELODIE BAHAN: It's not a question that we ask. It's not a requirement in the statute or the guidelines.

BRIAN BAKST: Others in the advisory group stressed that the Snowbate certification would encourage NBC to hire more local workers. Bahan says the Department of Employment and Economic Development signed off on the plan, and she ran it by some legislators before asking her board for approval. Neither chair of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over Snowbate recall being approached. A third lawmaker, then Representative Kelly Fenton of Woodbury says board officials told her the Tonight Show was coming but didn't indicate state money was attached.

KELLY FENTON: I don't ever remember being asked, do you approve of this? Because that was not-- those aren't the decisions that the legislators make.

BRIAN BAKST: A deed spokesman says there were internal discussions about the show's eligibility. A month after the program aired, a deputy commissioner suggested a rewrite of Snowbate guidelines citing the Tonight Show payout as a reason. Bahan says new Snowbate guidelines are in the works to emphasize economic impact, level of local hiring, and how recognizable Minnesota is in what's shot here. Bahan says she doesn't view the matter as controversial, but understands the passionate response.

MELODIE BAHAN: It's connected to the Super Bowl, which has gotten a lot of scrutiny as it should. And it's the Tonight Show. Anything that is high profile with famous people in it is going to get a little more attention.

BRIAN BAKST: As for the show, NBC officials spent last spring and part of the summer supplying expense details that included the $162,000 Fallon earned for the episode. It all paid off for NBC because Minnesota's check was mailed in mid-July. Brian Bakst, MPR News.