Babs Do Studios began as an idea by brothers, Zack Birlew and Patrick Birlew, when they lived on campus at the University of Nevada Las Vegas as sophomore Film Students in 2005.

With dreams of working on large scale productions and establishing successful careers in film right out of school, Pat and Zack were inspired by the groundbreaking visual effects releases of the time including “The Lord of the Rings”, “Matrix”, and Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man” films as well as the growing dominance of more affordable digital cinema solutions in the industry, the plan was simple, “We need our own studio, so how do we do it on our budget?”

It all started with a trip to Home Depot. Knowing that sound stages didn’t exist as they do in Los Angeles, the brothers took notice during a shopping trip to Home Depot that the sheer size of the store and the inherent sound proofing qualities of the space made for what seemed an ideal space for film production. If a Home Depot or Lowes or even a Costco store closed, there was a possibility to have a turnkey space to film any kind of production and Las Vegas had plenty of potential buildings waiting to be repurposed for film use. With that concept in mind, the idea of starting their own film studio in Las Vegas seemed all the more possible.

In 2008, the Birlew brothers graduated from UNLV and were accepted to Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film & Media Arts’ Masters of Fine Arts program. The facilities at Chapman had been revolutionary for film school programs at the time and it remains one of the most technologically advanced schools in the country to this day. For Babs Do Studios, the experience at Chapman University showed what can be done in a compact space with Marion Knot Studios serving as a great inspiration for what a working modern studio facility can look like with one building not only housing all the offices and classrooms for the program but also film scanning, post, PC server space, a 500 screen movie theater, two sound stages, a broadcast stage, production design studio, equipment warehouse space, and an expansive media library.

As well as attending their college and graduate school programs, the Birlew brothers had made a priority to also attend annual conventions, workshops, and meetings that could be beneficial to their education and career endeavors. The annual Las Vegas National Association of Broadcasters convention has remained a constant source of education, network connections, and creative inspiration as the media industry’s primary event for displaying new products and software advances for media production. Being close to the latest technological advances and establishing connections to professional suppliers has been one of the greatest strengths of Babs Do and has been a key factor in maintaining constant inspiration, creativity, and growth as media professionals in the ever changing media industry. Over time, the Birlew brothers would also regularly attend additional industry conventions and events including Siggraph Conference for computer graphics and interactive technology, Live Design International (LDI) for broadcast and live venue innovations, Comic-Con International events including Wondercon and San Diego Comic-Con, and most recently the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC), in addition to several other local comic and media events across Northern and Southern California and in Las Vegas.

Since graduating from Chapman University, the Birlew brothers have been in a constant state of development for their upcoming productions. With their experience in 3D animation and advanced production techniques, the Birlew brothers have been avidly working on developing projects that not only portray timeless and entertaining stories but will also utilize the latest advances in film production. In 2014, the Birlew brothers began production on what would be their most awarded project to date, “The Review – A Fatal Frame Fan Film”. Originally developed as a single film based on the “Fatal Frame” videogame franchise, the project evolved into a multi-episode web series that has gone on to win 22 film festival awards internationally. This success inspired the brothers to embark on their first feature film, “The Diner” (working title), which is nearing the end of its post production journey for completion and potential distribution in 2024.

In addition to their film education and multi-award winning filmmaking career, the Birlew brothers have led equally long careers as professionals in the medical industry as part of their family’s multi-award winning urgent care practice, Stockton Urgent Care, serving as computer and networking technicians as well as office management members. Drawing parallels to their family’s medical practice and the film industry has been a constant with advances in computing, cloud data storage, and digital imaging affecting both industries equally in every respect as well as the transition from physical paper records to digital data being an exact parallel to the transition from film to digital video. As a long time example of dedication to their attention to technological advances in their field, Stockton Urgent Care had not only been the first medical office in Stockton to adopt Unix and, later, Windows computers, it was also the first major care facility in Stockton to to adopt digital records. Even though as of January 1st, 2024, Stockton Urgent Care has transitioned into new ownership with the retirement announcement of their father, Dr. Nicholas Birlew, the Birlew brothers have taken the education and experience that they have grown with and learned from to focus into preparing their collected business principles for the development of Babs Do Studios.

In 2023, the announcement of the “Las Vegas Media Campus” development made headline news with new Las Vegas resident and world famous actor, Mark Wahlberg, aiding the development and helping to back a new senate bill to expand Nevada’s Film Tax Incentive program from $10 Million Dollars to a much higher $190 Million Dollar budget. The news was exciting, so many events were happening so fast with the new development and the Nevada Film Office made the call for new infrastructure development for Film & Media in Nevada. With the Birlew brothers focused on major elements of post production on “The Diner”, they watched and waited to hear the outcome of the senate bill and the future of the “Las Vegas Media Campus”. In June 2023, the vote for the senate bill failed to come to a vote and hopes for the LVMC development dwindled even with promises for another attempt at a later time. It was at this point that the Birlew brothers were inspired to make up their own proposal for a film studio development and that they would answer Nevada’s call for new infrastructure.

After having experienced a “zero-film-infrastructure” environment with the making of “The Diner” in Northern California, the plan for Babs Do Studios began with the long held original concept of utilizing currently available commercial real estate properties to adapt and renovate into film industry standard compatible production facilities. However, in their research, the Birlew brothers discovered new age building companies that offered modular construction solutions for film sound stages and related facilities that have been tested and approved by Netflix and other major media companies internationally. This discovery provided an additional pathway towards establishing the much needed film studio spaces for Nevada with a surprising cost savings and without losing any benefits of traditional studio construction methods. At the same time, considering the easy building and expandable nature of modular structures, this also added a possible portable aspect to the development for future expansion needs and even studio relocation if necessary. While building studios with modular construction would be the ideal solution for Babs Do Studios, the Birlew brothers could see that due to the nature of Las Vegas’ building landscape and land offerings, it would still be highly advantageous to also renovate pre-existing commercial real estate properties that can meet the needs of modern productions in various ways. By utilizing several industry suppliers and builders from their convention circles, the Birlew brothers could repurpose traditional warehouse and industrial buildings into advanced film production facilities that emphasize the spirit of the designs seen and experienced during their years of learning at Chapman University’s Marion Knott Studios. With the pathways towards building their studios figured out, the realization that their plan could work for cities other than Las Vegas took hold and additional research immediately brought Reno and Carson City, Nevada into the proposal as potential cities for expansion with their unique individual characteristics playing towards their creative potential as additional major Nevada filming locations.

In November 2023, after months of research and planning, the Birlew brothers had a finished infrastructure plan in hand and submitted a proposal letter to Governor Joe Lombardo that was shared with Nevada Film Office director, Kim Spurgeon, and an appointment was set to make a presentation on what would later be officially named “Babs Do Studios, LLC”. The presentation went over incredibly well and the expansive nature of the development for building in more cities than Las Vegas as well as the modular construction aspects of the plan were applauded. The road ahead would not be easy though as the State of Nevada currently has no laws in place to assist with infrastructure development related to Film & Media development, regardless of how much it is needed or wanted, and Babs Do Studios would have to find investors for building its studio system. Since that time, the Birlew brothers have officially registered Babs Do Studios, LLC as a business entity and have begun researching investor solutions and potential partnership opportunities to bring Babs Do Studios to life.

In February 2024 it was announced that the LVMC development was back on track with a renewed effort for expanding Nevada’s Film Tax Incentive program at a reduced budget of $95 Million with a projected campaign for 2025 and a new completion date for the $1.8 Billion Dollar LVMC campus in Summerlin and at UNLV for 2027. While Babs Do Studios is not in any competition with the LVMC as all film infrastructure is beneficial to the State of Nevada, this update showed that the potential for further interest in film infrastructure development as well as the practical benefits of the film tax incentive expansion could still potentially be a benefit for Babs Do Studios to utilize going forward.

Shortly after the update on the LVMC development, in March 2024 it was announced that the world famous American Film Market would be moving to Las Vegas in November 2024. The American Film Market is the sole key industry event in America for international film sales, financing, and acquisitions and in the case of developments like Babs Do Studios, the AFM’s move to Las Vegas would make the way for a streamlined business path for film production in Nevada to direct international distribution sales annually.

With all of these developments scheduled to move forward with some still tied to the passing of expanded film tax incentives in Nevada, the Birlew brothers are in a unique position to provide the exact kind of infrastructure called for by the State of Nevada as well as potentially creating a very advantageous connection to the American Film Market right away within 2024 as the Babs Do Studios plan will uniquely allow for. As the search for investors continues and industry events and conditions change seemingly by the day in 2024, Babs Do Studios, LLC will continue forward towards establishing a new age film studio system in Nevada for the benefit of Nevada communities and businesses.