With the recent hearing for the Assembly Bill 238 Nevada Film Tax Incentive bill by Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., and Howard Hughes Holdings, the activity for Nevada’s future as a film and media hub had a rather quiet week!
On Friday, March 7th, the Nevada Film Office released an article that essentially summarized the journey so far with the beginnings of Nevada Studios and what would become Senate Bill 220 and then the events that led to them competing with Summerlin Studios and Assembly Bill 238. It also pointed out the discussion points from the hearing for AB238 and a glimpse of the road ahead.
Thread
Here is our X thread on the subject:
– This @NVFilmOffice article lays out the AB238 & SB220 film tax incentive program timeline & goals with @SonyPictures @warnerbros @HowardHughesHQ @UNLVFineArts @LangeForSenate @sandra4nv @NVDemsChair & shows the problems in getting Nevada film industry off the ground. More below:
– As we have stated in our reviews of the AB238 & SB220 bills, DEI is an issue & there are no incentives for other studio developers. By using @grok AI to draft modified versions of the bills that remove these, they become far more simplified and focused on new film infrastructure.
– The article talks about the extras like hotels, dining, a hospital, etc. that don’t have anything to do with the studios unless this will be a new Universal Studios park attraction. If costs can be cut by not including development for these then get them out of the film bills!
– Talking with other state commissions, the whole “build first before incentives” stance isn’t competitive, it’s just time & money gate keeping to prevent anyone else from building in Nevada. Whoever it is that they’re trying to impress with this needs to be ignored, it harms NV!
– The goal with these bills should be to incentivize all studios to build in Nevada & to foster new production studios like Nevada-born Babs Do Studios & Nevada Studios to get their start. The Nevada Legislature is seeing multiple studios wanting to build NOW, let us build!
– Even if the bills cost more, the naysayers aren’t seeing that Nevada is missing out on a major new industry. What is broken though is the nature of film tax incentives as we have seen in our discussions with other state film commissions.
– Film tax incentive bills have been traditionally designed to lure Hollywood production to another state or area. Nevada doesn’t have to follow this as we can start new with Hollywood 2.0 and grow a new central hub for film and media production!
– By fostering local production, talent, and new production company and studio developments, Nevada won’t need to depend on Hollywood studios, production, or resources any more and will have full creative independence for Nevada production and will directly profit because of it.
– Nevada already has all of the business benefits that would make it competitive enough on its own to be a stopgap for the industry’s talks of moving towards international production instead of staying in the United States. Nevada needs a new film incentive program to aid this.
– To prevent the film and media industry from building in Nevada would be a disservice to the entire country. At Babs Do, we see that every state should be a production destination but for Nevada to potentially be the headquarters for Hollywood 2.0, we cannot miss this opportunity!
– Fixing the AB238 and SB220 bills is simple. Remove DEI, add infrastructure incentives for all, add additional infrastructure items like theaters, and settle on a budget that helps develop the state the fastest. $150M, $200M, $300M, whatever the number, we can’t compete with less!
– On that point, at the hearing for AB238, the bill’s competitiveness was called into question with much stronger programs from other states. Thinking on this, both bills are still based on the original 2023 text. They now have to compete with newly updated 2025 state programs!
– The key point that the Nevada Legislature has to take into consideration is that Warner Bros., Sony, Babs Do Studios, and even Nevada Studios aren’t just empty studio builders, we’re all independent production studios, that’s already more development than most other states!
– In summary, Nevada’s role as a film and media production hub doesn’t have to follow established programs or practices. The concept of Hollywood 2.0 gives us the opportunity to start the entire industry fresh and right within Nevada!
– If everyone involved can be on board, we can work together to make something new, independent, and very profitable for Nevada well into the future!
@JosephMLombardo @drrobintitus @sandra4nv @NVDemsChair @LangeForSenate @DavidOReillyHH @warnerbros @SonyPictures @UNLVFineArts
Our Overall Opinion
In our overall opinion, when examined in the context of competition, the bills are both working with a template that was created in 2023 that just may not be able to compete against newly updated film tax incentive programs and studio developments that have come up since then. The initial texts for either bill can be converted to a much more focused, simplified, and beneficial bill for Nevada and if all parties can come together and accept that big changes need to be made quickly to benefit everyone, Nevada can have a truly revolutionary Hollywood 2.0 film tax incentive program. Otherwise, the state could risk adopting a bill that functionally delays Nevada’s progress as a film and media production hub for years and possibly even half a decade if there are no changes or amendments made to the program within that time.
We have to remember that the both of the current bills hold up all infrastructure incentives until the selected studio is built, which can take up to December 2029, meaning that even if the incentives could be applied to any other studio, they don’t and can’t based on current text, only large established companies that can afford to build film studios can build, there are no startup incentives to help new studios with new development ideas and strategies like Babs Do Studios or anyone else that would want to build new studios or infrastructure in the state. This ultimately functions as a backwards form of gate keeping through money and time in order to isolate Nevada’s development to solely benefit the selected studio in either bill.
Back when the bill for the new film tax incentive program first came out in 2023, there was a plan for two studios, one for Nevada Studios and one by Sony Pictures, and an annual $190 Million Dollars credit program. The confidence wasn’t there for the bill at the time but we will never know how it could have gone because the bill was presented too late into the legislative session and never made it to the floor. The AB238 and SB220 bills focus on a lower annual amount for incentives but at the same time there are now upwards of four production studios involved, including Babs Do Studios, so, the reality is that this funding change is reversed, there should be more annual incentives to support all studios involved and any future studios as well!
Las Vegas already has committed $300 Million Dollars to the A’s Baseball Stadium development, $200 Million Dollars to a new homeless center, a swath of near $100 Million Dollar housing developments all across the city, and a number of over $100 Million Dollar road projects as well, so asking for $190 Million Dollars or even $250 Million Dollars in annual credits for new infrastructure, consistent production, new jobs, and industry shouldn’t be such a big ask. This is especially because this endeavor is for at least four active production studios that all want to build and independently produce film and media projects in Nevada, we are not Hollywood-dependent studio builders with goals to “lure Hollywood production to Nevada”.
With low barriers to entry to obtain professional training and have immediate job opportunities, Nevada’s new film industry can help provide jobs to the homeless that the new “Campus for Hope” center seeks to help, the added spending to the local economy and larger production and operation tax spends can help fund new roadways and infrastructure projects throughout the state, the added industry can also help provide buyers for new homes in Las Vegas, and the added film and media attention can help bring inherent advertising for tourism in Nevada to help large projects like the A’s Stadium once it’s built, the possibilities for widespread benefits to the city and state are absolutely massive!
In Conclusion
This week, we will be drafting a new version of the bills that simplifies things further in order to help provide new perspectives on AB238 and SB220 that could lead to much better bills for Nevada artists, communities, and the future development of Nevada as a Hollywood 2.0 film and media production hub. We can only hope that the parties involved will be listening and looking at our revised bills for guidance and/or inspiration! In any case, we will continue to work towards building Babs Do Studios in order to be “everybody’s studio”, stay tuned!