Casting call: Local investors needed

Tinseltown-on-the-Truckee? It could happen if Reno's Doug Collins and Hollywood's Peter McAlevey can make a few things come together.

The pair have been kicking around the idea of establishing a film making studio somewhere in northern Nevada ever since McAlevey, a Hollywood producer, shot a remake of the classic John Garfield film "Body and Soul" in Reno's Eldorado Hotel Casino.

That was 1999.

Ever since then, Collins, and occasionally McAlevey when he's in town, have scouted locations, including the old Kmart building in Carson City.

They've also talked to the governor's office about possible tax abatements to help lure filmmakers here and collected commitments from some investors.

And they think they have just the right name for the studio.

"We've been thinking of calling it Bonanza Studio," said Collins, who with his wife Dianemarie, owns and runs DM Productions LLC, a Reno-based marketing and public relations firm.

Now the partners say they need some local capital - about a quarter million in seed money to lease or build the studio and to open a sales office in Los Angeles, said McAlevey.

"We've done the basic business planning, identified properties and we've talked to investors," he said.

"Unfortunately we've not spent as much time talking to investors from Reno to Lake Tahoe.We need to come up with a hit list.

The key is to find someone in the area who is willing to invest in it."

That may be easier said than done, they say.

"I'm not sure the northern Nevada investment community has realized what a jewel they have there," said McAlevey.

He says the area has nearly everything a film project needs.

In terms of exteriors, northern Nevada has it all except a deep-water seaport, and even that can be recreated if Lake Tahoe is shot right, said Collins.

And the casinos have plenty of talent, said McAlevey - from actors to grips (equipment handlers on a set) to the movie electricians known as gaffers.

"And Panavision," maker of widelyused film cameras, "has said it would open a service center there if we opened a studio," said McAlevey.

What's left is the right property and the money to secure it.

Collins said a suitable building would be as big as a warehouse, with thicker floors for movie sets, columns at least 100 to 150 feet apart, a two- to three-story ceiling, and preferably walls that are not perpendicular to one another so sound doesn't bounce back and forth.

"An airport hangar is a perfect example," said Collins.

"You need to be able to park an airplane in it."

Then there's local investment money.

Collins said the investment would be in the studio itself, and the chance to invest in films being made there.

"A studio is like a hardware store during the Gold Rush," said Collins.

"It doesn't matter whether they strike gold or not.

The hardware store still gets paid for its picks and hammers."

He said the building could also be used for big fund-raising functions in the same way Reno Air used to host functions at its airport hangar.

It could also be used to house the local cable operations that air city and county government meetings.

A studio would also be a boon to the local economy, said Collins, since it would attract businesses on the periphery, such as services for location scouting, catering and casting as well as fill hotel rooms.

McAlevey said northern Nevada is more appealing to filmmakers than either New Mexico, which is aggressively working to lure the industry there, and Canada, where much film and TV production work is done today.

"You really have a leg up," said McAlevey.

"I think a studio there is a brilliant idea."