As in, if someone in Las Vegas builds sounds stages and if someone beefs up the film school at UNLV, Hollywood executives certainly would be knocking on the city's door. Panelists agreed that the best thing Las Vegas could do to attract the attention of production companies is to make it worthwhile financially for them to come. Dramatic breakthroughs in special effects and digital production techniques are reducing the importance of on-location shooting. But the more incentives that are in place, the greater the chance that a production company would set up shop for filming, bringing millions of dollars to the local economy. American dollars go further in Canada and deals made with Canadian unions are keeping production costs down for film companies there.
Production companies play with vast amounts of cash and every film made is a massive risk.
For every 2,000 scripts an average production company reviews, only one is chosen to be filmed, Dowling explained. Only about six scripts are chosen to be filmed by the average company in a year. Of those, only about 20 percent recover their costs. Even though filming and production can mean big bucks for a city, nearly every place in America gets some of the dollars spent by Hollywood every year. Theaters across the country cash in on what Hollywood delivers.