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Shelley Osterloh Reporting The Utah Film Commission plans to launch an aggressive campaign to bring film makers to Utah.
Last year, the industry brought in 146 million dollars and employed nearly two thousand people.
Film Makers bring big money to our state. And the film commission hopes to attract more by advertising and providing incentives for film makers.
Utah's unique and varied landscape has been in many movies. The film Unaccompanied Minors used ski hills and the Salt Palace to look like an airport. Pirates of the Caribbean was partly shot at the Great Salt Lake.
The Utah Film Commission recently held a contest to create commercials that will air during the Sundance Film Festival hopefully catching the eye of film makers planning their next movie.
Aaron Syrett, Director Utah Film Commission: "We want to sell an experience, and we want to let them know that we have a great infrastructure, we have some pretty good incentives, and that Utah is a great place to make movies."
The winning commercials were created by a team of BYU graduates led by Jed Cowley. The contest winners' commercials show, in movie images, what Utah has to offer.
Jedediah Cowley, contest winner: "We just thought they were visually interesting and the they had a good message about the many different locations in Utah that can be used for film."
The team won 4500 dollars for the spots and the Film Commission hopes they bring big bucks to Utah.
Another big attraction to Utah is its financial incentives.
Governor Huntsman's budget recommendation to the legislature includes five million dollars for a Motion Picture Incentive Fund. That is four million more than last year.
Film makers who shoot here will get a 10% rebate on what they spend while in Utah.
