Monday, Oct. 27, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.
Although Southern Nevada has some features that are attractive to Hollywood filmmakers, Las Vegas probably isn't destined to become a center for the motion picture and television industry, the head of NBC says.
Bob Wright, chairman and chief executive of NBC and vice chairman and executive officer of NBC parent General Electric Co., said while Southern Nevada does a good job of accommodating crews that do location shooting, there aren't enough people in the industry based in Las Vegas to make it a key business center.
"There are some people who work there," Wright said. "Your weather conditions are very attractive and Las Vegas does a pretty good job considering you don't have a lot of writers, actors and directors there."
Wright will speak at the Nevada Development Authority's annual luncheon Wednesday at the Four Seasons Hotel. He was in the spotlight this Fall when GE and Paris-based Vivendi Universal announced plans to merge NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment to create one of the world's largest media companies, with an estimated value of $43 billion.
The newly merged company will hold NBC and the Telemundo Spanish-language network, 29 television stations, three motion-picture studios, seven cable channels and five theme parks.
Wright was invited to address the NDA at the invitation of close friend Jim Rogers, who owns Sunbelt Communications Co., which operates the NBC television affiliate in Las Vegas, KVBC Channel 3. He said he would discuss the business climate in Nevada in his NDA presentation.
In a telephone interview Friday, Wright said it is too early to determine what effect the Vivendi deal could have on Nevada.
But there are no plans to build studios or theme parks in Southern Nevada and the company isn't interested in tapping into the state's entertainment or gaming industries.
"I don't know if building a studio is something we would be doing (in Las Vegas)," Wright said, when asked if there's a bigger place for the city in the film industry. "We shoot a lot of scenes from shows there quite frequently because it's an exciting locale.
"There are only a few cities where there are a lot of films shot because of their ability to service the needs of post-production. We go to Las Vegas for the glamour and because it runs 24 hours, but if we're looking to film a drama about life in the suburbs, it probably isn't the place to do it because you're always up."
Still, one of NBC's most successful new dramas this year has plenty of location shooting. "Las Vegas," starring James Caan as the head of security at a Las Vegas resort, was the first drama series to be picked up for a full season of 22 episodes.
But Las Vegas, the city, doesn't quite have the star power necessary to hold its own as the center of a cable network, according to Wright.
Wright said in a recent conference call that the cost savings and the revenue growth resulting from the NBC-Vivendi deal would create new opportunities to launch new cable channels based on Universal's film and television properties. And, for several years, entrepreneurs have floated the idea of developing a Las Vegas cable network capitalizing on the city's popularity.
Wright said that in discussing new cable channels, he was referring to television franchises that already have a track record.
"The show 'Las Vegas' has been very successful early on, especially considering it's in such a crowded time slot on Monday night, up against 'Monday Night Football' and '(Everybody Loves) Raymond,' and even Fox is getting aggressive by putting '(Joe) Millionaire' in there," Wright said.
"But what I was alluding to about a cable network are franchises that already have a large library, like Dick Wolf and the 'Law and Order' franchise," he said. "So, we've been talking to Dick Wolf (producer of 'Law and Order') about that possibility."
As for Universal getting involved in theme parks or casinos in Las Vegas, Wright indicated there's virtually no chance of that happening anytime soon. As far as theme parks are concerned, Wright said it's a difficult business environment now, regardless of the location.
"We've got our hands full with theme parks now," Wright said of Universal, which has parks in Southern California and Florida as well as Japan and Spain.
"In order for theme parks to improve, there needs to be more traveling east and west (internationally)," he said. "These are tough times for theme parks and we're doing the best we can right now to attract people to the existing parks. We're aware that Las Vegas has similar characteristics to the markets where we have parks, but this isn't the time to be developing new projects, not just in Las Vegas, but anywhere."
And that includes partnering with a resort in the way rival Paramount has worked with the Las Vegas Hilton on its "Star Trek" attraction.
"We don't have any plans to do that," he said. "And there certainly are a lot of entertainment aspects to Las Vegas, but we don't have any plans to be in the gambling business."
Although Wright, who joined NBC as its president and chief executive in 1986, said there aren't any business relationships with Las Vegas on the horizon, he noted that a subsidiary of parent company GE is one of Northern Nevada's top employers.
Bently Nevada, based in Minden, is one of the world's top suppliers of information systems that work with industrial machinery. The company, which was acquired by GE in 2002 and has 1,700 employees in 100 offices worldwide.
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