Spielberg influenced Las Vegas filmmaker

Thursday, June 8, 2006 | 7:33 a.m.

Josh Meeter is a native Las Vegan and an aspiring filmmaker.

The 24-year-old employee of a local ad agency hopes CineVegas will begin to help erase the word "aspiring" from that description.

Meeter, who has been making films since middle school, made a five-minute film, "Synthetica," that will be seen in CineVegas' Nevada Filmmaker Showcase.

The film was shot for UNLV's annual 48-Hour Short Film Contest.

"We treated it as an opening to a film, not just a short film," Meeter said.

Meeter grew up on films by Steven Spielberg.

"I'm a huge fan - I knew when I saw 'Jurassic Park' that I wanted to be a filmmaker," he said. " 'Star Wars' inspired me, but it was 'Jurassic Park' that did it for me."

He envisions making films that balance artistic and mainstream considerations.

"They can have an artsy touch, but too much of that will alienate the audience, and filmmaking is mostly business," Meeter said. "You have to be able to sell the product.

"When I was starting out I just thought everything was going to be artsy. But when you get older you realize you have to sell the film to people."

Meeter says he would like to make films in Las Vegas.

"It's cheaper to film here than Hollywood," he said.

But he is not optimistic about being able to pursue his goals here.

"I don't think it's possible," he said. "Ultimately I think every filmmaker is going to end up in Los Angeles."