Today got off to a surprising start with the announcement that Warner Bros. has officially rekindled their partnership with Sony towards building a film studio in Las Vegas! In this case it is for the Summerlin Studios development and leaving behind the Nevada Studios Media Campus project with the University of Nevada Las Vegas. This answers the mystery out of what Warner Bros. was going to do after parting ways with Nevada Studios shortly after we had posted our review of Senate Bill SB220. The reason, we an only ever guess, but the timing was fortunate as tomorrow Assembly Bill AB238 goes up for debate and this news will surely be on full display with the presentation for the bill!

On the other side, with SB220 and Nevada Studios, much has been quiet since Warner Bros.’ departure but it may be strategic to see how the debate goes. We have been following and even having discussions with parties involved, not many responses or answers to questions with all the activity behind the scenes, but for such a massive undertaking with the amount of work to provide the legislation to build new industry in Nevada, the job surely isn’t easy and we would know because we have been producing our own drafts of AB238, SB220, and combinations of both!

With the number of changes and revisions required in both bills and the need for immediacy to amend and update the text of the bills, we have been using Grok AI to apply selective alterations to the bills, reviewing each finished draft, and emailing the results to both sides of the competing Nevada film tax incentive groups to help provide examples of what the next official versions of the bills could look like.

The key point has been to include support provisions for other studios and by including Babs Do Studios as another studio developer to provide the maximum amount of jobs, industry, and infrastructure opportunities as well as the benefit of our economical approach and quick building times. Our studio plan can also now offer AI datacenter facilities, manufacturing, and even arena-sized sound stage designs and still all within months as per our original proposed plan. This would also benefit Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., and Nevada Studios as we would be able to build Babs Do Studios within 2025 so that any production work they, any other studios, or independent creators can have the chance to begin this year, professional training education can get a head start, and some of the advanced aspects of the bills can be enabled before the 2028 and 2029 timeframe their developments are set to be completed by.

While no official discussions have happened to include Babs Do Studios in either bill, it has been mentioned by Warner Bros. previously that they would look at building a temporary facility to get to work right away but then why do that when they can help another studio start up to not only serve them better but also provide the added infrastructure benefits to Nevada? Then again, neither of the bills has yet made official revisions to provide support for any other studios than their banner studio projects, so we turn once again to our efforts with Grok AI to show the way towards what could be the best bill to serve Nevada artists, communities, and the future of Nevada as a film production hub as per our recent post thread on X:

Thread

– We have been communicating to all sides that a multi-studio approach would be best for Nevada, this is a great step in the right direction! We have also presented drafts of AB238 & SB220 that show the recommended changes and amendments from our review with other studios included.

– As per Senator Lange’s recommendation in the news, we have also drafted a combined version of AB238 & SB220 to show how both bills can work together as a stronger, more open, and universal bill that provides support for all parties and other studio developers to build in Nevada.

– Due to immediacy, we have been utilizing @grok AI which has shown to be a great resource for applying these sometimes foundational changes to these bills. As we speak, we are drafting versions that incorporate @warnerbros as a developer and also include Babs Do Studios!

– Our proposal in the bill draft for Babs Do Studios presents a $150 Million Dollar large studio build that can provide 12 sound stages and supporting production facilities to meet the requirements of Nevada Studios and Summerlin Studios during their construction.

– By providing incentives for other studios, Nevada can have new film and media infrastructure in 2025! In addition, we are also examining a mirror approach to the program with an annual $25M for infrastructure & $25M for production with $6M per project caps for each.

– Our revised bill also adds film distribution and exhibition venues as part of Nevada’s infrastructure including construction & upgrades to movie theaters, @SphereVegas, film festivals, movies in the park, museum screenings, drive-ins, etc., etc. as approved by @DiversifyNevada.

– While the numbers may have to be adjusted to work for all involved, this more shareable approach, we believe, will satisfy all studios and allow Nevada to have a much more widespread film and media infrastructure future going forward!

– We hope these efforts go towards a more agreeable bill to offer benefits to Nevada artists, communities, & builders for NV’s future!@JosephMLombardo @drrobintitus @LangeForSenate @sandra4nv @NVDemsChair @DavidOReillyHH @PictureThisNV @SonyPictures @warnerbros @unlv @UNLVFineArts

Breaking News

Following our thread post, the news broke that Paramount is now removing their DEI programs in order comply with federal mandates, the same issue we worried about when reading the DEI language in AB238 and SB220! We cannot support any bill with DEI practices in its text and, as has been proven, going forward neither can Sony Pictures, Warner Bros., or Nevada Studios!

Instead, our welcoming Hollywood 2.0 vision should be inspiration for others to accept all creators and talent by inherent nature of universal creative support and an emphasis on individual effort for success. This would do away with forced political, social, and cultural programs and agendas that have categorically been proven to be unhelpful and even harmful to all involved. As one example would put it even on a practical level with AB238 or SB220 in their current forms, if one studio engages in DEI practices and another studio does not, the bills currently force DEI practices on everyone so where is the freedom of choice, expression, and business? Even on the basis of simple logic, all of the DEI language and practices need to be removed and reading the bills with all of the forced quotas and waivers for “good faith effort” to abide by or work around the DEI program in the bill, it’s all completely inappropriate and with the language removed by Grok AI, the bills read as much more purpose built and focused on solely establishing new film and media infrastructure in Nevada for the sake of all Nevadans. Supporting Nevada citizens and their future should be the goal with these bills and no other agendas, movements, or ideals.

Conclusion

We will continue to reach out to both sides in order to help in any way to give them the feedback and resources with our draft work with the bills through Grok AI and to potentially find a solution for both sides to come together to offer Nevada upwards of four studio developments ready to build with the passing of one bill or even a combination of both! As this is the only chance for Nevada to adopt a modern film tax incentive program in 2025, we have to do everything we can to make sure that if any bill passes, it has to be the absolute best and most comprehensive bill to support the needs of Nevadans and the future of the state as a film and media production hub.

While we could start Babs Do Studios in another more developed state, the opportunity to create something new and unique against anything else in the country is at this time in Nevada! We can only hope that Senator Roberta Lange, Assemblymember Sandra Jauregui, Assemblywoman Daniele Monroe-Moreno, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures, Howard Hughes Holdings, and UNLV are listening and reading how much better our far more open and universal versions of SB220 and AB238 can be for Nevada.

As we mentioned in one of our emails for providing our Babs Do Studios plan to this endeavor:

Through this journey to develop Babs Do Studios in Nevada, we have seen all of the developments and been a part of the discussions across multiple parties to bring the film and media industry to Nevada, however, the most impactful has been seeing the reaction of students at UNLV who are dreaming of the possibilities that all of it can bring. As filmmakers ourselves and UNLV film graduates, it really speaks to us and reminds us of our days as students and how we dreamed of making our own blockbuster films in Las Vegas and wished for the chance to make it happen. For those students, we want to be able to tell them that they don’t have to keep waiting for their dreams to come true, their dreams come true today.

(Disclaimer: At the time this blog post is put on the site, it will most likely be Thursday, February 27th, so just pretend it was posted on time on the 26th! – Moderator)