Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Editorial: Las Vegas as a moviemaking town: Lights! Camera! Tax credits!

There aren’t many movies you can watch in Las Vegas and say, “Hey, our neighbor is one of the extras!” or “Look at the names on the credits, don’t we know that guy?”

That may be a reason to see “Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.”

The original film was a big hit among moviegoers and a moneymaker for Sony, even if it was snubbed by reviewers. Because comedy sequels don’t traditionally do as well as their predecessors, Hollywood wasn’t holding its breath that the hijinks of a mall security guard would be as successful the second time around.

But in fact, box office numbers are stronger than expected, with the movie in its first month of release already having captured nearly $90 million in receipts, more than double its budget.

What’s in the movie for Las Vegas and Nevada?

In terms of chatter around the water cooler, it’s possible you may know someone who had a role in its making, either on screen or behind the camera. The production employed about 3,500 people, many of them Nevadans. Some people hired as extras grew into more prominent roles.

But there are more expenses than just payroll — catering, equipment rentals, facility fees, hotel accommodations and the like. About 70 percent of the movie’s $38 million budget was spent in Nevada, where the entire 49-day production took place. That’s good for our economy and the people who work in the entertainment industry here — experts in makeup, costuming, lighting and all the other supporting jobs in moviemaking.

The economic uptick is thanks to tax credits Nevada began offering last year to movie producers who bring projects here.

“Mall Cop 2” is the first movie to be awarded a certificate of eligibility for those credits. Once its expenses are audited and the qualifying expenditures are confirmed, the production could receive as much as $4.3 million in tax credits, according to Kim Spurgeon, an analyst at the Nevada Film Office.

The four-year pilot program, operated by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, offers the transferable tax credit to productions that, among other things, have budgets greater than $500,000 and will shoot at least 60 percent of their footage in the state. The credit maxes out at $6 million per production.

There are two broad payoffs for the region having movies filmed here. One, it puts one of the world’s most cinematic backdrops teasingly before millions of eyes. (The specific visual star in “Mall Cop 2” was the Wynn, where the movie’s plot plays out.) Two, it provides jobs to the talented Las Vegans who work in the entertainment trades, providing them income they in turn will spend here.

The math is pretty simple, in the case of “Mall Cop 2:” The state is providing $4.3 million in tax credits to a company that pumped more than $20 million into the economy.

With an effective and targeted film tax credit program, Nevada can develop, nurture and benefit from an ongoing, stable economic sector that also serves to promote the state’s core industry — tourism.

The program initially was funded at $20 million a year, but half of the money was redirected this year toward luring electric car maker Tesla Motors to Northern Nevada. Nine movie and television projects applied for the tax credit and have been, or are being, produced in Nevada. Each said that were it not for the incentive, only part of the production, at best, would have occurred in Nevada.

We are counting on the Legislature to restore the film credit budget to at least $20 million funding for biennium. A bill to do just that, Assembly Bill 147, is before lawmakers now. It would be good for our hospitality industry and for the many skilled craftsmen, tradesmen, directors and actors who know their stuff and can raise Las Vegas’ reputation as a place for profitable moviemaking.

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