Transcript
Veronica Pope on Bringing More Film Production and Scott O’Donnell on CircusWorld (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Thu Jun 11, 2026
You're listening to Civic Media.
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From Washington to Hollywood and right back to Wisconsin.
It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Connecting the dots on the stories shaping our world with smart takes, sharp humor, and plenty of personality.
You know, I really expected more professional behavior from you.
It's news and culture without the noise.
Yeah, come on!
Here's Pete Schwabba.
Dude.
And Greg Bach.
Dude!
Welcome to Night Light.
live stream.
We're currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform.
We still call Twitter.
My name is Greg Bach.
We're coming to you live from Radio Park here in Racine all the way up the coast is Mr Pete Schwabba in Marinette, Wisconsin, a
I don't know.
I always want to say across the pond.
I'm sure there's a lot of ponds between us and Dom in Madison, but it just, it makes it sound like he's in England, but Dom Lee is in Madison at HQ on the ones and twos.
And we are the Yatterhey Triangle here with you tonight.
It's going to be a great night.
It's, is it Thursday?
It's Thursday, which
basically means
it's Friday Eve.
So yeah, correct.
Pete, how you doing?
I'm doing very, I had a little technical snafu here, but I am, I am well.
I am here.
I am with you guys and it's great to be here.
Happy Thursday, everybody.
including to you, Daniel Barry, Sports Highlights, who says, what's up, people?
Happy Thursday.
Happy Thursday.
Indeed it is, my friend.
We have a great show planned for you tonight.
We have two great guests.
Scott O'Donnell is here from the Wisconsin Historical Society.
He's gonna tell us about a big event going on in Baraboo this weekend, a big top parade and some other things at Circus World that happen in the very near future.
He'll join us at 5.20.
And then this is exciting in Wisconsin.
We have film incentives now, folks.
And Veronica Pope, the new head of the Wisconsin Film Office, will join us to discuss this great thing that should help pump some money into the economy and bring jobs to Wisconsin and make it easier for filmmakers who really don't want to leave our beautiful state here.
And I'm thrilled those passed and I've had the opportunity to talk to Veronica a couple of times now and I'm a big fan.
So excited to welcome her at 535.
Then Greg at...
In the second hour, I know it's Thursday, but we had some special circumstances come up.
We are not doing movie night.
We're going to do a binger cringe Dom quiz.
And part of the reason, I'll just come clean here folks and say this right off the bat here.
This will be our last night with Dom, but Dom is not going anywhere.
Nightlight will end tomorrow night.
That will be our last show broadcast tomorrow night on Friday, June 12th.
That was, you know, kind of a surprise, Greg, but nothing lasts forever.
This has been a really fun show to do.
I
did
the show for a couple of years on my own, little over two years and then was honored to join Greg Bach here as my co-host and work with Dom as well.
So it's been really fun and had a great time with Conrad for a couple of years.
This has been a really, really fun and enriching show to do for me personally because I got to talk about all the things I love and...
All the things that bring us together, movies, some sports, TV, music, I hope that we've unified an audience here.
I know we
had
listeners from both sides of the aisle and I take great pride in that.
So this has been a fun show and it's been great doing it with you, Greg.
Tomorrow night will be our last broadcast though.
Absolutely, yep, yep, yep.
It's disappointing and it's sad, but we will have the best last two days possible.
We're going to
have a lot of
good times.
We're going to be silly wacky as we always are.
And we invite you to come along with us for the fun.
So yeah, we're going to do the announcement.
It's done.
Let's move on to other things, including a keyword.
a keyword.
What's going on?
What's this keyword you speak
of?
Oh, it's only the Accelerate Your Summer Text-to-Win Multi-State Contest where you have a chance to win a daily prize of $100 as well as a Wisconsin Dells gift prize pack.
So...
It's very easy to be a part of all you need to do as the listener.
We can't be a part of this because we work here.
So that's just like it's a it's a it's a no-no.
All you need
to do is
get out that civic media app on your phone or your device, get to the get to your favorite station, WA UK and text in the keyword for your chance to win this hour.
And this hour's word is.
Oh, we still have timpani budget money.
Believe it.
TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK TRUNK
Yeah, it's a great contest and it comes to an end tomorrow night.
So you still have a few more chances this evening
and
tomorrow after our show in the seven o'clock hour.
There'll be another keyword.
You can get that.
You can certainly text in trunk on the app, as Greg just mentioned, TRUNK.
And you'll have another chance to do that as well tomorrow.
So that'll be exciting.
And I hope everybody wins, Greg.
I don't think that's possible.
Every single person.
Every single person,
when everyone gets to win.
I hope they all win.
But that's not going to happen.
We have some good stuff coming up, though.
We have a great question of the night.
And maybe we should get to that without further ado.
Let's do that.
Good idea.
Who makes the best French fries?
I don't know why I've wanted to ask this question for so long.
But you know, people are partial to their side items and I love-
Partial?
Like, I'm heavily opinionated.
True.
And I love a good French fry.
So that is tonight's question, folks.
855-752-4842-8557.
Five Civic, let us know.
Text us in.
Text on the text line on the app.
Or if you're watching the radio on the stream at YouTube, Facebook, or the app we still call Twitter, you can drop us a stream comment like Daniel Bear's Sports Highlights did and let us know your favorite french fries.
That's a good one.
that.
Of course you do.
Are you thinking about it, Tom?
Oh, look at him.
He's salivating.
The brush.
I just love listening.
I mean, I know, I'm gonna sound like such an old man.
I love listening to young people talk about how much they love junk food.
And I'm just like, just always thinking to myself, you know what, that's adorable.
Just wait.
I know.
Just wait.
Oh gosh,
you're making it
a
And Tom, you know, listen, dude, you've been a big part of Nightlight too.
This is fun.
It's been great working with you too.
I'm sorry you won't be here tomorrow night, but Greg, we will also get to say goodbye to our friend, Aaron Zommers, who will be filming for Dawn tomorrow night.
And that will be fun.
We'll go out with a bang on a Friday.
What did you guys think?
Did anybody, I don't know if you guys can hear this.
I do the show from home and I swear to God, my wife and daughter are wearing clogs and stomping through the house right now.
Well,
I'll
just.
Can you hear
that?
No, we cannot.
Okay, good.
Forgot I said.
I like how you
sold
them out completely for us not hearing it.
They are, it's like they're elephants right now with their shoes.
Unbelievable.
Can't hear anything.
It's like they're trying to mess with me.
Wouldn't be the first time.
So last night I'm at the gym, right?
I'm on the treadmill, inclined 12%, not trying to brag, I'm just saying.
No brags here.
I look at the game at the NBA Finals.
We know Trump was at the game a couple nights ago.
That did not go well.
He got boo.
The Knicks lost a lot of New York is blaming all the drama or their loss on the president.
But last night they came out flat.
I looked up at the TV.
The Knicks were down 32 points in the second quarter.
Yeah.
And I'm like, well, this is over.
You know,
The Spurs are going to get home court advantage back.
This game's done.
And I haven't watched the NBA in quite a while, but I like a good game seven or if seven games series is exciting, I think that's great.
But I kind of let it go.
And I woke up this morning.
Apparently this is the greatest comeback in NBA history because the Knicks came back and won it on a last second shot.
It was incredible.
Yeah.
It's weird.
I had a similar gym experience, only it was today.
So I was at the gym.
I was in the sauna, 12 incline number eggs.
Whoa.
I'm just kidding.
No, no.
It's a chance of a serious injury right there, buddy.
Well, that's why I did it in the sauna, because it keeps me warm and keeps me loose.
But we're all sitting there quiet.
And all of a sudden, this guy who knows this other guy, there's three of us in there, he goes, hey, man, you keep it up with basketball.
And the guy goes,
No, I don't watch basketball at all.
And this guy goes, so I'm watching the basketball game.
I'm like, you didn't even have to ask permission.
You could just started talking.
Like he asked the guy.
He said, no, he goes, well, I don't care if you'd like it or not.
I'm just going to continue talking now.
So that's where I found out about the greatest comeback in NBA history.
And you know what?
It's like neither one of them.
are my team like I don't the nicks were big rivals of my bulls years ago and we
beat
them and I have no ill will even though they were dirty they were a dirty team then like pistons but um this this made me go back and watch highlights well obviously my lunch today I turned on youtube and I put the highlights on it was spectacular it was like worth it if you want to you know now you know what happens but the highlights are are
Thrilling.
was any other season, I would have said there are highlights for the white socks.
But the white socks are doing well this season.
They're doing well.
It's good to watch them.
It's good to watch them.
I watched them beat the Detroit Tigers a couple of weeks ago and I'm like, yeah, I mean, I feel like every brewers fan secretly also roots for the white socks.
So I mean, that's just how we roll.
But yeah, how do you explain that?
How
does that happen?
What do you mean because of
the cubs?
Well, why do brewer fans?
I know the cubs are the rivals.
You're not going to choose the cubs.
But why are they?
Why would what's the connection between brewers and socks because they both don't like the cubs?
I think that's part of it.
But I think the other point is that there is a.
a similarity between the teams, underdogs, not very like, you know, they're, you know, even though we don't have another team here in Milwaukee, we're seen as the other, I mean, we're seen as another team, we're seen as a suburb of Chicago to a certain extent.
So, you know, we have a shared dislike in the Cubs, but I also think because they're in the AL, it makes it easy to root for them.
So
that's where I feel, because if you go to a Brewer's Cubs game in Milwaukee, you will see at least 300 White Sox fans
there.
Just going to cheer
against
the Cubs.
Oh, yeah.
Oh my gosh, Mike.
But the best thing I ever saw at Cubs Brewers game was a guy in a Cardinals hat with a t-shirt that says, I hope both teams lose.
Oh, that's funny.
That was the best.
It was the best.
And look, being considered a suburb of Chicago is better than being considered a suburb of Gurney, right?
Well, I mean, I'm not a suburb of Gurney.
No, but you said Chicago is making
a joke.
Oh, I see.
Okay.
Well, finally, I got a pizza farm joke out there.
It's about time.
It's about time.
It just landed with a thought.
Before we wrap this up, you got to get your own pizza farm.
Now it's going to work on Dom getting one before and we'll get matching t-shirts.
We can't afford matching t-shirts.
Never mind.
It's fine.
Just another reminder, folks, this hour's keyword in our Accelerate Your Summer multi-state text to win contest here at Civic Media is...
Not pizza farm.
It's trunk.
TRUNK.
Trunk.
Text that in.
You're eligible for $100 cash in a little Wisconsin Del's prize package and you're automatically enrolled for the grand prize of a $250 gas card and a $250 grocery card.
Greg.
If you get a bounce back message from us asking you to follow us on social media, sign up for a newsletter, something like that.
Do that because it gets you one extra entry period, not every day, not every time, but you get one extra entry in the entire contest.
So if you see that coming through, go for it to greaten your chances to win.
Thank you for all the love on the text line, everybody.
It is great to have you here tonight.
And I hope you'll join us tomorrow night too.
We've enjoyed really connecting with you guys.
And we still have a lot of show to go tonight and tomorrow as well.
A reminder that tonight's question is, who makes the best fries?
French fries, that is.
And we've had a couple Weisenheimer responses
saying, well, the
French.
So let us know what your favorite fries are.
Folks, we are coming back with Jim O'Donnell.
He's the Circus World Director.
Gonna talk about a big parade this weekend.
Check it out and check the parade out.
And here with Jim has to say, or I'm sorry, Scott has to say we are coming right back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Locke on the Civic Media Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get
started.
It's Boney M, isn't it?
They're called Boney M. Yeah, Boney M, yeah.
I've been hearing that a lot lately.
It's a great song.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
We are back without further ado, or maybe a little ado.
We are going to bring up our first guest of the night.
He is here.
He is the director of Circus World in Baraboo, and he joins us.
Compliments of the Wisconsin Historical Society, Mr. Scott O'Donnell.
Hey, Scott, how are you?
Good evening, gentlemen.
I am fantastic.
It's a big circus weekend, so couldn't be better.
I wish I could say that.
I know it's a big circus weekend.
It's a big circus weekend.
I always
say most places are we just have the official title.
I love it.
Since we don't have a ton of time, let's jump right in.
Tell us about the Big Top Parade, which is happening Saturday, I believe, correct?
Or
Sunday?
Yeah, Saturday, it's stepping up at 11 a.m.
It's the 14th annual Baraboo's Big Top Parade and Circus Celebration, so over 75 units celebrating this state's vibrant circus heritage in conjunction with the 250th anniversary of America.
The semi-quincentennial, great scrabble word.
We're going to have our area's veterans as our honored grand marshal for that parade.
And it's Americana at its best.
It's 14 of our glorious wagons and community floats and bands.
You name it, all going down the streets of downtown Berber.
So it's a great day to be here for sure.
It's so great.
And how long has that been going on?
Because I remember going to the Great Circus parade in Milwaukee when I was a kid.
I mean, we would go every single year, and it was so exciting and so fun.
Yeah, very much so.
So we did the Great Circus Parade in Milwaukee for over 30 years.
We also did a couple iterations in Chicago over the years.
And this is the hometown version, if you will, right here, where it all started in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where those five follicly blessed brothers called Branglain started their circus in 1884.
That's great.
Our guest is Scott O'Donnell.
He is the director of Circus World.
What a great title.
How do you get to be a director of such a fun entity like that, Scott?
What did you do?
Did you work your way up washing windows?
Are you like a Rhodes Scholar in Circus?
What happened?
You lose a bet.
I was the quirky kid from Canada that fell in love with the circus.
I sort of predate the creepy clown phenomenon that Stephen King unleashed upon the world.
I thought
if you could make people laugh and get paid for it, that'd be the dream job.
So I got a degree in Russian history and minor in political science and psychology and ran away and joined the circus.
Interesting conversation with the family.
Yeah.
I own my own circus for 13 years.
If you watch Tim Burton's movie, The Big Fish, the circus and that was my circus.
That's great.
It was an
awesome experience.
You owned a circus.
I mean, that's not a sentence that many people can say, and it's definitely one where if you say it out loud, you go, I owned a circus.
Everyone's going to go, I'm sorry, what?
Yeah,
exactly.
I'm a great call friend if you're ever on one of these
shows because I got all
the abstract facts and friends for sure.
I count among my friends, human cannibalers and people that hang by their hair 40 feet up in the air or work with exotic animals or you name it.
It's been great and I've traveled the world booking talent for Ringley Brothers, Barnum and Bailey doing like two day camel caravans to the outer Mongolian mountains to look
at
a yak back riding act because why not?
right?
So when I was a kid, I read all things about circus and every book I read talked about this community, which as a kid, I called Baruba.
I couldn't say it in my native Canadian tongue.
And I think my parents thought it was like an island or something sounded exotic.
So I got to get to Baruba.
Yeah, let's get to Baruba.
So all roads led me to here and it's a great honor to be here with the world's largest collection.
of artifacts and ephemera dedicated to the art form of the circus and we literally do welcome guests uh academia where we have some researchers coming from japan next week to dive in in our library and research center here uh it's amazing the circus heritage from this state over a hundred circuses have come from this great state you take the map and you throw a dart at it you're going to get on or pretty close to a town where a circus came from and that's unequal to any other state in the nation
One of the best things I love about hosting this show is that the people I've had on went when someone is truly passionate about what they do and Preferably even if it's something I know nothing about which is a lot of stuff But this is so great and I can hear your your enthusiasm in your voice Scott Tell us before we have to let you go.
We've about a couple minutes left.
Yeah circus world anniversary days.
That's kind of June 27th.
Tell us all about that
So we opened on July 1, 1959 as the fourth historic site for the state of Wisconsin.
So this is anniversary 67 for us.
And we rolled back the hands of time to celebrate that.
But we also adjust our admission pricing to be comparable to when we opened.
It was a quarter to get into Circus Road.
So in today's inflation, that's $6.
So we have special admission for $6 for everybody.
And that's helpful this summer when gas prices are a little high and challenging.
So we invite everybody to come and forget about the
a homework assignment or th or whatever is impacting your day at the circus.
You can litter day.
We have two live big t a goat show.
We have more than any place in the state.
I believe you.
The world circus get to dress up and put on a so it's a great time.
Come
I'm standing.
Yeah, that is great.
It's great.
And kudos to you, Scott, on hiding your Canadian accent.
I heard nothing.
Although we're in Wisconsin, there's not that big of a difference.
It's like a suburb.
I know that.
I de-aid myself, but I still oot in the boot.
That kind of gets me in trouble.
Awesome stuff, buddy.
Thank you so much.
Enjoy the big top parade this weekend and the anniversary.
Thank you for spending a few minutes with us, Scott.
Hey, come see us this summer and may all your days be circus days.
All right.
Thank you so much, Scott.
That's Scott O'Donnell, Circus World Director.
Seriously, what a cool title.
That's fantastic.
We've got our keyword.
This hour, folks, is trunk.
TRUNK and our Accelerate Your Summer Text-to-Win Multi-State Contest text in trunk only on the app, and you are eligible for our daily prize of $100 and a nice little prize package for the Wisconsin Dells.
Coming up after the news, Veronica Pope, the new head of the Wisconsin Film Office, very excited to have Veronica here.
And our question tonight, who makes the best fries?
Join the fun.
This is Night Light with Pete and Greg.
We're coming right back on the Civic Media Network.
Welcome back.
This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Coming to you live on the Civic Media Network, happy Thursday, everybody.
It is Friday Eve, or as I used to call it, the Christmas Eve of weekdays Thursday.
Hope you're having a great day.
I've got a Christmas in my blood, Greg.
What can I tell you to do?
I know.
I know.
You really got to make this Christmas city USA.
It is great to have you on
Wikipedia now.
I
know.
I look for that, by the way, and I couldn't find it.
I
sent you the link.
I know I opened it, but there's more stuff about Marinette on there than I was expecting, because about five years ago, the last time I looked, there wasn't much stuff, so I'm going to have to weed through it and check it out.
And then Pete Schwabba showed up.
I'm hoping it sticks.
Fingers crossed, I am gonna monetize my hometown somehow.
All right, welcome back folks.
Our keyword this hour in our Accelerate Your Summer Text-to-Win Multi-State Contest is trunk.
TRUNK, text that in on the app and only on the app and you're eligible to win.
100 bucks cash and a nice little prize package for the Wisconsin Dells.
Hope you win.
And our question of the night is, who makes the best fries?
And maybe our second guest of the evening can help answer that question, as well as any questions we have about film or film production.
I have some
thoughts on the Godfather 3, so great.
I'm excited.
I'm excited.
Well, I don't know if we could do that kind of a deep dive, but you know what?
Why not?
Go for it.
It is my pleasure to welcome an Emmy Award-winning producer, director, and the new head of the Wisconsin Film Office.
She joins us over the stream, Miss Veronica Pope.
Hi, Veronica.
Hello.
So nice to be here.
Well, it's great to have you.
We've been connecting recently and, you know, it's it was hard to get you here because you're so busy.
You've got such as this big undertaking with filming in Wisconsin and your new position.
How is that going?
First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself because I said you're an Emmy winning producer.
I love that you bring production and that background to this position to here in Wisconsin.
But tell us about yourself and how it's going so far at the Wisconsin Film Office.
Oh, thanks so much.
I mean, if.
People have been following along film Wisconsin is a big deal and I was one of those people following along if they the office was approved in 2025 Up until this point my background is in as a showrunner executive producer mostly in reality television So I know we want to talk about films, but if you're curious about talking about renovation shows house owner shows You want to talk about reality TV and TV we can also talk about that
Maybe not
sure you served up and you're like
Okay, but that's my background 20 years in reality production development show running executive producing I love production and I've been in Wisconsin for about 10 years.
I'm originally from Denver, Colorado And I always had to leave Wisconsin to go to work and that is that was a big bummer that we it was hard to bring production here
So I was really excited about the opportunity, really excited for Wisconsin to get the film office and the tax incentives, but really excited to get to participate in that and bring more production to Wisconsin.
And the film Wisconsin, this has been a long time coming.
They have been trying to build this for a while now.
I remember there were a couple of films shot in Wisconsin, public enemies.
I think there was some stuff done for transformers.
And I felt like
or not I, but like we as a community felt like, well, if they're going to be bringing more film here, then of course we would get a film office, but it's, we finally got it in 2025.
But how long has the road been to get film Wisconsin up and running?
I
mean, I think it's been a long time.
You're totally right.
There were some great productions here in the last couple of decades that came to Wisconsin because they wanted to be here.
But I think in the last three or four years, there's really been a big
pitch within the community to figure out how to bring a film office and tax incentives back.
I mean, great task force, great people.
Action Wisconsin was a huge player and kind of advocating for the need of a film office.
And they kind of collected all of that statewide creative economy message that like we're waiting for more work here.
We're excited to bring more productions here.
Wisconsin is a great place for projects like that, but it took
a couple of years to really kind of lay the groundwork, make the case, and gain that kind of bipartisan support that production is is magical, but it's also a really great economic driver.
I mean, it has a great economic impact in the state.
So there is some some people that really came on board.
Governor Evers is a huge proponent of the film office.
Absolutely wanted to help see this through.
So it took a little while, but it got approved.
Nice.
It's so great because we
You truly can't film anything in Wisconsin.
We've got lakes, forest, prairies, big cities, small towns.
We've got summer, winter, all kinds of things.
We don't have huge mountains of the ocean, but I feel like we are pretty much banging on all cylinders in terms of locations.
Are you finding that a lot of people are trying to film here since the passage of this legislation?
We've had a lot of people from Action Wisconsin on this show.
How are you finding it to be so far?
Are you busy?
The office is really busy.
I mean, we have the job of setting up the office, but I think people were waiting for these incentives.
They're waiting for the office to open.
And my experience so far has been that we kind of fall into two buckets.
There are people across the country who are kind of waiting for this opportunity to bring bigger productions to Wisconsin.
There's a lot of incredible filmmakers, producers, screenwriters here in the state that were also waiting for these tax incentives.
So, I think people are kind of waiting to see what this would look like, how they can access it, and people are kind of ready to go when the film office opens.
They were excited to get those applications in early and see how we can start production.
And you said, Veronica, you're...
your background is in production, executive producing, show running.
What aspects of that experience do you bring to this job as far as because I personally feel like producers get the job done.
Like they know how to look at what's needed.
They know they look at what you have to get and go from there and make things work.
But what is from your history gets you going in this job here.
Well, thank you for that.
I would have paid you money to be on set sometimes, because sometimes people don't.
I'm
for hire.
I
can send you a resume.
Yeah, I mean, I think you're exactly right.
That has been my experience.
The producer is really kind of, it's the entire process, right?
It's the producer's job to understand.
the budget and the creative and the schedule.
It's the producer stop to understand how you're going to translate that in the field.
It's the producer stop to understand how you're going to put that together and really make sure that what you made matches what you said you were going to make and deliver it in a meaningful way.
So it's the creative part.
It's the product management part.
It's the financial part.
And those are all the pieces that I think are exciting in a film office because I
I like being involved in all of those pieces, and the office can be an asset for productions going through that very process.
Our guest is Veronica Pope.
She is the new director of Film Wisconsin.
She's also an Emmy-winning producer, and we are so glad to have her on Nightlight tonight and running the film office.
I mentioned that we've had a lot of people from Action Wisconsin on the show over the last year, year and a half, Rebecca.
I see how hard they've worked.
And I've also partnered on projects with other producers who had film incentives in their state and then they went away.
How do we keep, I feel personally like this has to be instilled in kids.
We have to create an art culture in Wisconsin.
We can't just say, we've got incentives now, come here.
And then, you know, the minute they need money for bridges or roads, ooh, sorry, we can't.
This has to be part of our fabric in Wisconsin culture.
How do we instill that?
And is that at all on your agenda?
No, it's a great question.
I think there's things that the film office needs to tackle first and some of the tax incentives pieces are part of that.
But I agree.
I think that the tax incentives in the film office can help encourage the development of other creative areas across Wisconsin.
We have some great film schools in Wisconsin.
UW-Milwaukee is a great film school, but those kids need opportunities to work in productions in order to continue their path, right?
So I think our early goal is really bringing more production, more opportunities, a wider variety of production.
I mean, if you get to work on a TV show and then you get to work on a movie and then you get to work on a documentary, it's enough work to keep people here.
And that's a big goal, I think, of
of bringing up a new generation and knowing that they have a path here in Wisconsin.
Great.
And with the establishment last year, and now we're in 2026, what is the work being done by the film office as well as other partners Action Wisconsin and other creatives who are part of this process to get the word out to those film schools, to those artists out there in Wisconsin, and also outside the state to say, hey, come shoot in Wisconsin.
How is that being disseminated?
Yeah, well, we've got some great partners.
I think kind of all across the board We work with a great PR company is kind of doing that Promotion on a more national stage really kind of feeding those relationships.
I think the second area that though we have a lot of really talented and incredible Wisconsinites who have left the the state and they're working in LA and they're working in Chicago and they're working in
Atlanta and they are kind of communicating that for us.
I think that's a great benefit that Wisconsin has.
People from Wisconsin are excited to come back.
So there's been lots of conversations about just people sharing the story of the film office within their circles across the country.
But yeah, Action Wisconsin has been a huge proponent of kind of sharing and encouraging interaction with the film office.
been able to speak at some different events across the state.
I hope to get across the state more, really to meet with some of the smaller theaters, the film festivals.
There's opportunities to really share what the film office can do and bridge some of those silos, those creative silos.
The film office is for everybody, right?
We wanted to be for Milwaukee and Madison as much as we want to be for Eau Claire and La Crosse and Superior.
So I think that a lot of communication is kind of pushing out now with
some of those mediums, but we have a lot to do, I think this summer to kind of boots on the ground communication and really talking with filmmakers all across the state.
That's so great.
I'm so excited because I shot something here about 20 years ago without any incentives, but Wisconsinites kind of rally around people, I think.
And we got a lot of stuff, favors and stuff for free,
which
is so, you can't put a price tag on that.
Well, actually we can and we did, but
you
get my point.
So what are you hoping, what kind of movies are you hoping come here that help also promote Wisconsin?
Like, I remember in our film, we had all these great fall shots.
And it's like sort of advertising for Wisconsin.
Are there particular films you like that would do that?
Or genres?
Yeah, I think there's a wide variety of genres, right?
I think sometimes we think that we have to be, we have to talk where Wisconsin or we have to
do something on the lake because we have this great coastline.
But there's so many different kinds of stories you can tell in all of those environments.
So I'd be excited about some horror movies.
I mean, we've got some great dramas that you can tell.
The backdrop is Wisconsin.
It's gorgeous, but you can still tell really compelling stories.
Wisconsin is a great place for documentaries.
There's a lot of great documentarians here.
So I think there's opportunity to tell a ton of different stories.
I really am excited about the variety.
I also, I mean, I want some reality television in there too.
We can
get
it.
But yeah, the variety I think is really exciting.
I think you can tell any kind of story here.
We're excited to help producers do that.
That's so great.
I worked on, are you smarter than a fifth grader for a little while?
And then, but that was not a reality show, but these guys had all these shows.
It was like a factory.
I cannot believe how busy and how.
how hard people work in reality TV.
I don't really watch it that much, but I have total respect for the people who produce it because they are truly, they just work, they work hard.
So you must have that work ethic, I'm thinking.
I try.
I try.
I think people in the industry all work hard.
I think that's the nature of the beast of your work of production.
Very well said.
That's outstanding.
Okay, that is the voice of Veronica Pope.
We'll have a few more minutes with our guest Veronica.
We might ask her about some of the shows she's done or her favorite film shot in Wisconsin previously.
We'll get to all that great fun.
It's great to have her here.
We are coming right back after a very short break.
Don't go anywhere, folks.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Locke on the Civic Media Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
civicmedia.us.
We are talking to Veronica Pope, folks.
She is the director of Film Wisconsin, the new office we have that hopefully will attract lots of film business here to Wisconsin to the point where we have full-time crews here and maybe with some actors.
We'll see, but it's great to have Veronica on the show.
She's doing amazing things here in Wisconsin.
Do you have a favorite film, Veronica, that was shot in Wisconsin?
I do have a couple.
Can I have like a top?
Top five list.
It was a shot here, but Bridesmaid's opening scene in Milwaukee is pretty great.
Bridesmaid's a great movie.
But shot in Milwaukee, I have a couple of favorites.
Obviously, Hundreds of Beavers is incredible.
if you haven't
seen it.
And you wouldn't even
know that was filmed, like I assume that was filmed at Mike's, or one of their houses or something, but I wouldn't, I couldn't even have told you where that was filmed.
I would have said maybe North Woods.
Yeah, I think a few locations around Wisconsin, but shot here in Wisconsin, incredible.
A great marketing campaign, a great film.
For
sure.
There's also a Sean Aston film shot here in the 2010s, The Surface.
Right here on Lake Michigan.
I've not seen that.
Yeah Well, there is a movie.
Well, this is my favorite thing is that I Don't think it was shot at all in Milwaukee, but the movie with Queen Queen Kong Hong No, that's not his name
I'm forgetting his name right now, but he won the Oscar for everything everywhere all at once.
Love Hurts was shot.
They shot it, and they say it was in Milwaukee, but you could tell very quickly, like, this is not Milwaukee.
This is someone's idea of Milwaukee.
And I just love the idea that in the movie, there's a huge crime syndicate that's like, this isn't Milwaukee at all, but I just like the fact they decide to pick the city.
to pick Milwaukee.
Yeah, I thought that would too.
It was not Milwaukee.
I think the trees didn't match.
That was the first thing.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I have to, I would probably say a film, I'm just going to keep it in the indie world, a film called Chump Change by Steve Burroughs, who
is a
Milwaukee native and went on to direct commercials and Super Bowl commercials.
And he made this great film on HBO called Bleed Out, a documentary that he's won awards for.
He's an immensely talented guy and are just a solid human being and very funny, but Chump Change,
He has Tim Matheson in it, and Jerry Stiller, and O'Mara, and it's just a great movie.
I think you can watch it on YouTube.
And it
was filmed for like a half a million bucks.
Very funny movie.
I love it.
I love the secret Wisconsin movies.
There's a lot.
You gotta find them.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
That's Veronica Pope.
She is the director of Film Wisconsin.
She joins us here for a couple more minutes on Nightlight on this Thursday night.
What of your reality shows, Veronica?
I'm going to ask you, I just picked one off IMDB Pro, and I want you to tell us about it.
This title stood out, Pond Stars.
Yeah.
Have you ever wanted to know more about the magical world of building a pond in your backyard?
Sure.
Yes, yes, yes,
yes.
That's what it is.
Okay.
I wasn't sure if it was like a big, like a horror, yeah.
No.
So I actually, one of my favorite series I ever made was a show called Making Monsters.
I was a producer on that.
And that
was a company that made the Halloween animatronics.
Oh, it's
kind of like haunted houses.
Incredible.
But in the same vein, right?
I did a lot of process shows.
So you get to take the audience through the entire process of how something familiar is actually made.
Pawn Stars was one of those.
The company is actually in
Illinois, I think, right across the border.
But it was installing backyard ponds and how the wildlife cohabitates in a backyard pond.
Who's on Carp Detail?
Get the Carp.
I was going to
say, if you ask me for one more Koi, I swear to God, I'm taking it all down right now.
Veronica, you mentioned it earlier.
You said various cities, and one of the cities you mentioned was Atlanta.
And granted, the office has just started, but we have seen, I don't know the official name, but essentially the Georgia Film Office, they have reshaped the state.
and reshaped film with what they've established in the state, especially Atlanta.
Are those types of ideas, you know, I don't wanna say pipe dreams are like, but like what you wanna see happen where we can really become a hub
for
filmmaking here in Wisconsin where big studios are choosing us before a lot of other places.
Absolutely.
I mean, I think that's the goal.
We are starting off small but mighty.
I mean, we have a $5 million fund.
We have an office of one, but we've got...
We've got room to grow, and I think that really is the goal, is that we want people coming to Wisconsin because it's great to work here.
We have so much to offer.
We have a really, really talented and friendly workforce.
We have so much to offer, and I think that's the goal, is that long-term productions are coming to Wisconsin, right?
We see it in places like Montana with Yellowstone.
We see it with big studios doing multiple movies and locations like Atlanta.
The industry is really decentralized right now, and I think it's a great time for Wisconsin to really enter that game and lure productions here because it would be a great host.
We have about a minute left, Veronica.
I'm just gonna ask you one more question.
Favorite, if you were making a film or reality show, favorite Wisconsin location where you would love to shoot something?
Oh my gosh, I'm a huge, I just love Kolar Andre State Park.
right outside of Sheboygan, the Sandy beaches, the favorite spot.
I mean, we can make a surf movie.
Let's make a surf movie in Wisconsin.
That's what I pick.
A hallmark.
A lifetime or hallmark surf movie about a big time businesswoman who loses it all and comes back home to do the one thing she loves more than anything else, surfing.
And her best friend makes pies.
Yeah, I think I'm going to make a smile.
eating cherry pie while you hang 10 in Sheboygan off the coast.
Veronica Pope is the director of Film Wisconsin.
We are lucky to have her in the state, folks.
Best of luck, Veronica.
Let me know.
Let us know what we can do to help and crush this thing.
We're so thrilled for you.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Thanks for taking the time.
All right.
We are coming back after the news.
We're going to read your texts about our question of the night.
Who makes the best fries?
That's very simple, folks.
Let us know.
Be part of the show.
And then we are taking a Dom quiz.
Binge or cringe in hour number two as well.
So we got all of that coming up on the second to last night like guys, what the heck?
We're coming back.
Don't go anywhere.
Folks, stick with us.
It's Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach and Nightlight on the Civic Media Network.
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