LAS VEGAS – Sony Pictures Entertainment is “shovel-ready” to break ground on a new studio in the Summerlin area while Warner Brothers is planning to come to the southwest part of the valley.
All they are waiting on is for lawmakers to pass a new film tax credits bill into law.
A film tax credit bill died in 2023. That measure would have provided $190 million in tax credits every year for 20 years, which equates to nearly $4 billion.
State Senator Roberta Lange of Clark County says the measure came too late in the session but she’s ready to introduce her bill again. This time, capped at $95 million annually for just 17 years. That works out to $1.6 billion.
The money would only be paid out after studios produced films or TV programs here and wouldn’t subsidize the cost of building the studios.
Sony Pictures CEO Tony Vinciquerra tells us his studio is ready to make the investment.
“The state will not have to put a nickel out until production actually happens,” Vinciquerra said. “We and Howard Hughes are going to put $500 million in the ground before we have one shot done.”
He added that he understands why the last bill didn’t pass.
“We’ve had a difficult time explaining it to the legislature. If you compare it to Allegiant Stadium, for example, you had to make the commitment up front and spend it up front,” Vinciquerra said. “If we don’t produce anything, the state is not on the hook for anything. If we work to bring productions here, the state will help us with the incentives.”
In addition to Lange, Assemblywoman Sandra Jauregui is also expected to introduce a film tax credit bill of her own, which has Sony rival Warner Brothers pledging to also spend big bucks in the Silver State, should the credits pass.
Vinciquerra told us the legislature should say the more, the merrier.
“They should be looking at what’s best for Nevada and if they want to approve both, godspeed. Let’s do it.”
Not everyone is in favor of the film tax credits.
Progressive groups say the money should be used for things like education and healthcare. Republicans oppose the use of state funds as a handout for well-connected businesses.
Some economic development studies show tax credits don’t produce the revenue that would justify the expense. However, Las Vegas’ location and reputation make expansion an obvious choice.
“Well, the message is this is a no-brainer to establish an entertainment world here because people want to work here,” Vinciquerra said. “The talent, the directors, the producers, they all want to come to Las Vegas. They all want to come here because it’s the entertainment capital of the world. It’s a great place to bring your family.”
Nothing can happen right now. The state’s current film tax credit is capped at $10 million per year. That means Hollywood’s eyes will be on Carson City, starting February 3, when the curtain rises on the Nevada legislature.
Learn more about the upcoming Sony Pictures studio project
On Thursday, Stagerunner spoke to Vinciquerra who said Sony has been working on a potential studio in Las Vegas for at least three years.
He said his team worked with former Gov. Steve Sisolak, when he was in office, as well as Gov. Joe Lombardo to try to find a way to make the credits bill work for all involved.
“This will be the only other studio that Sony has to produce film and television,” Vinciquerra said. “The plan is to build about 31 acres with 10 sound stages, office space, woodworking shops, metalworking shops, bungalows for production teams, and commissaries to make sure people don’t leave the site. Our facility in Los Angeles is about 50 acres. It’s about 65% of the size of our facility in Los Angeles.”
Vinciquerra said not only does talent want to work in Las Vegas, it’s easier on the studios as well.
“California, the number of stages are pretty fully used so there’s not a lot of growth there so we need other places to go. Productions are going to Europe, to Georgia, to New York, to New Jersey, to Louisiana, to Massachusetts,” Vinciquerra explained. “We’d prefer to keep it closer to our home office and the talent would just love to be here.”
A new studio would also provide thousands of jobs to local workers.
“The building of the facility will be about 19,000 jobs,” Vinciquerra said. “We think once the facility is up and running, it will be about 15,000 jobs [that are] created by this facility, not only for the people working on the lot but ancillary services that provide business for productions.”
Vinciquerra said the plan is to tap into skilled workers that are already here and partner with local universities to create programs that will train up the next generation.
“One thing that Nevada has in its favor is you have a tremendous number of trained people already. The number of shows, the number of conventions here, you have a great workforce in place,” Vinciquerra said. “You want the trades crews, the carpenters, the metal workers, the people that build and run the sets, that’s the workforce that will make this project work and be a huge success.”
According to Vinciquerra, the average wage of those jobs will be $100,000 and they will be union jobs.
“I had a meeting with one of our largest unions and they will be here once we have this facility. They’re very excited about it.”
And once the film tax credits are in place, it’s all systems go.
“Our plan is already in place. We are shovel-ready,” Vinciquerra said. “We’ve already gotten permission from the Clark County Zoning Commission to do this so we’re way ahead of the game. As soon as we have the agreement from the legislature to fund the incentives, we’ll start digging and we’ll be up and running within a year.”
