$1 million incentive fund proposed to attract filmmakers to Vegas

Thursday, Oct. 28, 1999 | 11 a.m.

The Entertainment Development Corp. of Las Vegas may lead an unprecedented drive to raise $1 million to offer cash incentives to producers who choose to make their movies in Southern Nevada.

Mimosa Jones, president of the EDC, said the grant program is one of several ideas that will be discussed in a summit meeting next week between local government leaders, Las Vegas-based filmmakers, Hollywood executives and union representatives.

Jones said the meeting is expected to be closed to the public to ensure candor among participants.

Jones said Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman has been asked to be a lead participant in the meeting and RSVPs are pouring in from several influential people in the film industry.

The meeting is a bid to get some of the goals of the EDC off dead center. The organization was formed last year to make Hollywood filmmakers aware of the dozens of companies willing to support the industry when it films on location in Southern Nevada. The organization also is dedicated to cutting red tape from local governments in obtaining permits for shooting films in public areas.

Some of the obstacles to attracting filmmakers to Las Vegas have been well documented by speakers who have addressed EDC functions -- including Wednesday night's guest.

Jon Walz, movie development manager for the Paramount Television Network, told EDC members what they've heard before: that Hollywood, driven by economic motives, are fleeing Southern California to film movies in foreign countries, most notably Canada.

Walz said his own production company has filmed in Australia, New Zealand and Canada and future shoots are planned in Luxembourg and Lithuania. The reason: Labor costs are cheaper outside the United States and currency exchange rates give Americans working in Canada an economic edge.

EDC members listening to Walz speak bristled when he told them he could hire a set carpenter for $270 a week in Mexico. Union crew members in Las Vegas are paid between $23 and $67 an hour, depending on the work they do.

Walz and and past speakers have told the EDC that Las Vegas needs to build a sound studio, provide tax incentives, develop a film program that can provide educated workers and devise some form of economic incentive to lure Hollywood film crews to the city.

EDC members have been told local government officials have been very accommodating about providing permits and access for moviemakers. The state also has a very friendly tax policy, ideal weather and is only an hour away by plane from Hollywood.

Walz said one way Las Vegas beats its foreign competition is that scenes that are shot on a Monday can be reviewed in the studio Tuesday morning because the city is so close to Los Angeles. Anything that needs to be reshot can be set up that day, saving money on location.

Jones said there is some frustration among her membership because the city is so close to a breakthrough and "the EDC creates the momentum of getting there."

That's why the EDC will sponsor next week's meeting. Jones said she hopes the representatives of the film industry and the government will be able to hammer out solid ideas that will make Las Vegas competitive with foreign locations and a handful of American cities that also are working to woo Hollywood.

Among the American competitors Walz identified were Wilmington, N.C., which has built a sound studio; Austin, Texas, a center of technology and creative filmmakers; and Phoenix, which has weather at least as favorable as Southern Nevada's and locations that may be more mainstream than Las Vegas.

"We don't have to be Mexico or Australia," Jones said. "We've spoken to many of the Hollywood producers and they tell us that if we can come within 10 percent to 15 percent of their budget, we could get the work."

Jones is optimistic that Las Vegas will get a studio and have enough qualified crew workers to meet Hollywood's needs. A new program at UNLV is expected to provide a steady stream of workers interested in making movies.

At next week's meeting, she expects discussions will center on the ability of governments making land available, tax incentives and, possibly the boldest initiative, the $1 million grant program.

Jones said local governments may be asked to match local fund-raising efforts to raise the economic development money.

She said terms could be written requiring a film company to commit to a certain number of productions in the area per year and a cut of profits the film generates at the box office.

An investment of that sort, she said, could return millions of dollars if a film turns out to be a blockbuster. In addition, film companies spend thousands of dollars for goods and services in the cities in which they set up.

"That $1 million could mean $200 million in two years," Jones said.

She said the biggest challenge could be convincing local municipalities to work together to develop the fund. If the EDC is successful in spearheading the effort, Jones said she thinks the incentive fund would be the first of its kind in the United States.

Several foreign countries have developed financial incentive programs to lure Hollywood overseas. A coalition of organizations like the EDC has been unsuccessful in its efforts to get the federal government to develop incentives to prevent Hollywood production crews from defecting to Canada, Mexico and abroad.