LAS VEGAS — Mark Wahlberg has made two movies in Las Vegas — “The Family Plan” for Apple TV+ and “Flight Risk” — and he’s hoping to make many more here.
That goal would be much more attainable with a movie studio in the valley, an idea he’s been floating since moving to Summerlin in August 2022.
During a Zoom chat to promote “Flight Risk,” the actor and producer confirmed that he “kind of started” the process by suggesting Las Vegas should become “Hollywood 2.0.” Sony Pictures Entertainment and Howard Hughes Corp., he said, saw the opportunities and really stepped up with a plan.
The $1.8 billion Summerlin Production Studios Project would create 10 soundstages and a 2-acre backlot on 31 acres north of Flamingo Road and east of Town Center Drive. While privately financed, the project is reliant upon the state’s film tax incentives being overhauled during the 2025 Legislative session that begins Feb. 3.
But what would Las Vegas gain from having a movie studio?
Economic diversity
“You hear it from every legislator, you hear it from every business, you hear it from every chamber: ‘We need to diversify our economy,’ “ said Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui, D-Las Vegas. “And we talk about it, and we talk about it, and we talk about it.”
Jauregui’s bill would address that by having the state set aside up to $105 million in tax credits per year for 15 years, an increase from the current $10 million a year. Of that, $80 million would be reserved for film and television projects at the Summerlin studios, with the other $25 million available for productions filmed throughout Nevada.
In comparison, California has an annual maximum of $330 million in credits, although Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed increasing that to $750 million, while Georgia routinely tops $1 billion in annual credits.
“(It’s) creating a whole new industry,” Wahlberg said of the project. “We’re just fresh off of COVID, where the economy was decimated. Without gaming and tourism, if that shuts down, there is no (local) economy.”
“For me,” he added, “it’s a no-brainer.”
Thousands of jobs
With those new tax credits in place, the Sony-backed project has promised 19,000 new jobs sustained during construction and 15,000 new jobs sustained upon its completion. According to the project’s financials, direct studio jobs would have an average salary of $113,000.
(Warner Bros. Discovery and Birtcher Development, which had been partnering on a plan to build a film campus in the southwest valley, had a falling out in early January.)
Working on a film or television set is “a good, solid job that doesn’t require a formal education in order to enter the workforce,” said Kim Spurgeon, director of the Nevada Film Office.
“It’s primarily on-the-job training,” Spurgeon said, adding that aspiring production assistants can learn what they need to know about being on a set in as little as two days. Once on set, those PA’s would eventually gravitate toward a particular field.
“It’s definitely an industry where you work your way up based on experience,” she said.
Ancillary benefits
After salaries are accounted for, Spurgeon said the bulk of a production’s remaining budget would be spread throughout the community.
“This just becomes a direct infusion of cash into the local economy in terms of what they spend — in hardware stores for construction, buying up wardrobe pieces, going to local dry cleaners, car rentals and truck rentals, making gas purchases, hotel rooms for any of the people coming in from out of town to stay here,” she said. “It just creates a lot of economic impact in terms of that direct spend. And that’s the benefit.”
“If our No. 1 economy is hospitality, gaming and tourism,” Jauregui echoed, “think about how many heads are going to be put into beds because of production that’s taking place here.”
The Summerlin Production Studios Project also would anchor what’s described as a 100-acre commercial village that would include hotels, office space, an urgent care medical center and retail, food and beverage outlets.
The finer points
As part of Jauregui’s bill, the new film tax credits wouldn’t kick in until July 1, 2028. Those credits wouldn’t go to Sony or Howard Hughes for building the campus. They’re reserved for each film or television project, which could be from any studio or independent producer. Work on those projects would have to be completed, and the money already spent in Nevada, before they could apply for tax credits.
“For every dollar in tax credit made available,” Jauregui said, “the state of Nevada will receive $34 in economic return on investment.”
Education and vocational training are built into the project, she said. “We calculated that, over the course of the life of the tax credit, we’re going to be able to send an additional $200 million to the state education fund, which is important.”
Going back to the diversification argument, Jauregui said she sees the film industry as a way to help Nevada grow.
“We do not have a state income tax here, so we have to look at different ways to bring in revenue,” Jauregui said. “We cannot keep funding our state on one industry alone. It’s not feasible.”
