Latest Setback Means Iowa TV Show Not Likely To Happen
There are new developments this week in the long-planned "Field of Dreams" television series. The Des Moines Register says the team behind the show is putting the project on hold and will decline the $6 million grant awarded for its production in Iowa by Governor Kim Reynolds and state officials
Executive Producer Morgan Sackett told the Register:
Our plans have changed and we will not be making the TVr Series 'Field of Dreams' in the coming year. We greatly appreciate your help getting the grant and are disappointed not to be filming in Iowa
The Destination Iowa grant would have given producers until 2026 to complete their work on their project, so to make this announcement this early seems to indicate little hope of the series getting off the ground at this point. At least, not in 2023, but one wonders, with all of its previous delays and inability to find interest from streaming services in picking up the production, if the series is dead on arrival.
Roadblocks against the series began in June of this year when Peacock decided to terminate its plans to carry the show. The series was set to have the creative efforts of Michael Schur behind it, who has also worked on the series "Parks & Recreation" and "The Good Place", and who had indicated that Polk City would be a key location in the adaptation of the 1989 film starring Kevin Costner.
After Peacock bowed out, it appears the team has had trouble locating another suitor, as recession fears and the economic downturn have made outlets like HBO and Netflix hesitant to pick it up at this time.
The $6 million grant now goes back into the remaining Destination Iowa pool of $28 million unallocated out of a total $298 million. The Register says there are some 138 other applicants waiting for their piece of that funding.