What is the owner of Boca Talent and Model Agency up to these days?

Natalie Kahn Toewe, the owner of the agency, is doing all she can to keep the production of films and TV series in Florida.

 
For that, Toewe attended the Miami City Commission meeting Thursday, July 24th. Toewe was doing her part to keep the production of the USA Network’s hit TV series, Burn Notice in Coconut Grove. The cast and crew use the Coconut Grove Expo Center for production of the series, but the city commission would like to tear it down.

She was one of many who showed support for keeping the Expo Center intact - at least until the end of shooting the third season of Burn Notice in 2009. Ellen Jacoby, the casting director for Burn Notice, actors, and another agent were some who protested the demolition of the site that will make way for a park.

The real danger of Burn Notice re-locating lies in the hands of the Commission as they are the ones who will decide when it will be destroyed. That decision could come at their next meeting. On Thursday the Commission approved the city's $165 million Coconut Grove Waterfront Master Plan, but has not yet approved a beginning of construction date or demolition date for the Expo Center.

 While the commission tentatively decided they would allow Burn Notice to shoot the third season at the Expo Center, sadly the series could receive a better offer to shoot season three or four in another state.

That's pretty much everyone's thought when it comes to filming in Florida these days: fewer and fewer are choosing to do it. In part that is because the State Legislature's new budget for 2008-2009 revealed a major slash for incentives in the film industry. The other is because other states are now offering the same or better incentives that Florida used to command.

Toewe, however, is banding together with others in film and TV to make sure South Florida remains a vibrant production center.