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PARK CITY -- A major motion picture and television studio and first-class hotel resort are the pinnacles of a new project developers plan to bring to Park City.
A major Hollywood film studio has signed on as a partner, but that company has yet to be announced.
"This is bona fide. We are fully funded, private funding," says Bay Entertainment and Media Owner/CEO Todd Bay. "We're not asking for any money from the stimulus, or from the state as well."
The studio will include eight to 10 large soundstages, a back lot and post production facility.
"You can come in with an idea and you can leave with your film," Bay says.
Bay tells KSL Newsradio Utah has lost out on movies like Transformers, Wild Hogs and 3:10 to Yuma in recent years because the state hasn't had the facilities and incentives. Meanwhile, other states have benefited by adding those perks.
"New Mexico in 2003 did $8 million. In three years after putting in a tax credit and a studio, it did $1.2 billion worth of film," Bay says.
"We have locations and we're a good state to film in. We have good crews. But we have to have that tax incentive and that film credit, and we also have to have sound stages," Bay says. "That's the formula. That's the package that will attract the major motion picture and the television series that the governor wants to come here."
Developers say construction could begin in late summer or early fall, and it will take 16-18 months to complete the first sound stage. And, it'll cost between $300 million and $500 million to build.
Bay says the project could lead to the creation of as many as 30,000 jobs in the next 10-15 years in Utah. The state acknowledges the estimate sounds right.
"A $100 million film has been shown to have a 2.5 multiplier in local economy," says Jason Perry, Executive Director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.
Perry says the studio and increased incentives, if passed by the legislature, will make a major difference. Senate Bill 14 erases a cap of $500,000 in incentives given to filmmakers, and instead allows the state to rebate up to 20 percent of the production costs of filming in Utah. The state would be limited to doling out $10 million total in a given year. The measure has passed the full senate, and goes before a house committee Wednesday morning.
"It's our desire to make the state of Utah the premiere film destination between L.A. and New York," Perry says. "The bill before our legislature will make that a reality - not only will it bring big budget productions to the state, but it will also bring the studios that follow those productions."
E-mail: aadams@ksl.com
