State Development Secretary Heads To Hollywood

The state's top economic official is leading a delegation to Los Angeles Tuesday to try to drum up support for making more movies in Massachusetts.

Economic Development Secretary Greg Bialecki will spend the next two days meeting with executives at more than half a dozen major studios. He'll be joined by Hill Holliday Vice President John Dukakis, who's heading up a new advisory panel looking at how to grow the movie business in Massachusetts, as well as union leaders whose members stand to get jobs, should more films be shot here.

Bialecki says Massachusetts has done well by the film industry.

"Now is the time to move on to the next level, we think, to keep those movies coming here, but to also work on how to get more folks in Massachusetts and businesses working on those movies," the secretary said.

State officials say more than 1,600 jobs have been created in the last four years due to the film industry.