Reno Movies

Lights, Camera, Action: Evaluating the Presence of the Movie Industry in Reno and its Continuing Impacts.

by Cole Allen

Reno, Nevada is one of the most unique and interesting cities in the entire United States of America. The city combines the lights and the hustle of other large cities, with the peace and serenity that is found in nature. The city’s slogan, “The Biggest Little City in the World” still holds true as Reno is big enough to feel like a city, yet small enough to feel like a community. It is a place like no other, where the high desert meets the high rollers. This incredible mixture lends itself well to the growth and involvement of businesses and industries in the region. In the last five years, the growth of big business presence in Reno has shot up, facilitated by companies like Apple Inc. and Tesla Motors. These big businesses are helping Reno to diversify its economy and create new and exciting opportunities for the people who live here.

One of America’s biggest forms of entertainment is the movies. The silver screen is an enormous source of business and form of wealth. In 2013, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) reported that the box office took in $10.9 billion dollars in the United States and Canada alone (MPAA 2). Films are a significant portion of the economy and can make a tremendous impact on the place where the movie is made. For many years, Hollywood, California was known as the movie capital of the world. Any major picture was undoubtably filmed in the fresh sunshine and cool air of Hollywood. This is not so much the case today. In 2012 and 2013, of the 41 big-budget films that were set in California, only one was filmed in its entirety in the Golden State (McNary). While this statistic spells heartbreak for California, it means prosperity for many of the other states in the union. Movies can show off the best of what

a region has to offer and convince people to consider living there. In addition, it builds up the reputation and gives the area bragging rights. This is the reason for states like New York to offer such lucrative incentives for film makers to come create a movie outside of Hollywood. In 2009, New York offered tax breaks as much as “$420 million a year in credits for 30% of production costs” as compared to California’s “$100 million a year for 20% of the production costs” (McNary). Film makers are seeing much better opportunities to profit in states like New York where they can claim higher benefits.

Another reason the movie makers are fleeing Hollywood has to do with the scenery and location they want in their movies. Several movies want features that Hollywood (or the rest of California for that matter) does not have and that other states do. This is a major reason why several blockbusters have been made in “The Biggest Little City.” Reno has the advantage of picturesque scenery, from the clear blue waters of Lake Tahoe, to the barren desert landscape. But Reno also has glistening lights and ritzy casinos that create a perfect setting for a shady meeting between characters. While the history of movies in Reno is fascinating, so are the impacts of movies and the future of the film industry in Reno.

Reno’s movie history is filled with brilliant scripted movies and some of the most famous actors of the times. Reno provided the perfect place for characters to get along through hardships, good times, and to do things that surprised and delighted audiences. Arguably, the most well known movie that was made in Reno was The Misfits starring Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Montgomery Clift. This 1961 movie was both Gable and Monroe’s last and is now known as an “underrated gem”. The storyline followed Roslyn Taber (Monroe), a good-looking woman who went to Reno to divorce her husband. While she was there, she meets Gay Langland (Gable), a cowboy, with whom she falls madly in love. When Taber learns that Langland and some of his cowboy friends are going to turn wild horses (called misfits) into dog food, she protests heavily (The Misfits). This movie showcases some of what Reno has to offer, from the abundance of wild horses just outside of Reno, and the cowboys that still maintain working ranches to this day. Robin Holabird, a retired film commissioner and movie reviewer, has mentioned to me the importance of the movie. It was both entirely filmed in Reno, and made in only a couple months, which is very rare for movies of this caliber. Holabird also called this movie “the most respected movie that has been made in Reno”. The Misfits is almost a first hand account of the scenery and the lives that the residents of Reno experience day in and day out.

The Misfits also demonstrated a long-standing tradition of the city of Reno. The bridge where Taber stood to contemplate throwing her old wedding ring into the Truckee River. The bridge is called Virginia Street Bridge. Taber joined the long standing tradition of women who threw their wedding rings into the water after they got divorced. In the state of Nevada during the 1930s, a couple had to establish residency (often in Reno, since it was the biggest city in Nevada at the time) for six weeks before they could get divorced, the shortest amount of time required by any state in the union. These lenient requirements allowed Reno to become the “divorce capital of the world” since people came from 48 states, Alaska and Hawaii (which were not yet states), as well as 32 foreign countries just to get divorced (Hearn). This nickname not only helped to increase Reno’s fame, but also helped expand the population size of the state due to the influx of people who came to get divorced and stayed. The movie did a great job of illustrating a long-standing tradition in Reno and an important (albeit unglamorous) point of growth for the city.

Some movies that were made in Reno were helped along by the growth of the city. More and more people were flocking to Reno, which helped to increase the population as well as the enrollment in higher education. The University of Nevada, Reno was established in 1874 in Elko, Nevada before moving to Reno in 1885 and graduating its first class (three people) in 1891. As enrollment in the university began to grow exponentially, more buildings were constructed and by the late 1930s, over 1,000 students were enrolled in the university (History). The 1940s and 50s were a period of excitement and visibility for the University. During this time period, eight movies were filmed on the campus. The movies included: Andy Hardy’s Blonde Trouble (1944), Margie (1946), An Apartment for Peggy (1948), Mother is a Freshman (1949), Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949), Captive City (1952), 5 Against the House (1955), and Hilda Crane (1956). These movies took advantage of the appealing aesthetics of the buildings on campus, a traditional college feel, and the ability to use students as extras in the films. Twentieth Century-Fox and Metro-Godwin Meyer were the first two major producers to create movies on the campus of the University of Nevada, Reno. After the fifth film (Mr. Belvedere Goes to College) the university administration at the school decided to adjust the policies for films being made on campus. Concerned by the number of students skipping classes, the school notified production companies that students cannot be used as extras if it affects their class attendance (Clough). This discouraged the studios since they would have to bring their own extras, which added to the expense of the movie. Even though 5 Against the House was filmed on a Sunday, with all actors and props moved out by Monday, the University Board of Regents created a new policy that restricted movie companies to only use the campus during university vacations. This policy further discouraged the production companies, and Hilda Crane was the last movie that was shot on campus at the University of Nevada, Reno. The end of filming movies at the University was the end of a “glamorous era” of the University’s contributions to the movie industry (Clough).

There are still some modern movies being filmed in Reno such as The Motel Life in 2013. This movie is based on the novel by Willy Vlautin and focuses on two Reno brothers who find a string of bad luck. One of the brothers, Jerry Lee, ends up hitting a kid on a bicycle one night and kills him. Both he and his younger brother Frank attempt to make ends meet and stick together through all their troubles. The movie did well at the Rome film festival and Chicago-Sun Times critic Bill Zwecker praised the film as an “intriguing new take on brotherly love not only gone wrong, but clearly hopeless from the beginning” (The Motel Life). Incredible movies like this prove that there still can be a great film made in Reno today.

These movies that had come to Reno have had a vast impact on the way other people see the city. As a place becomes more known for the productions it has been involved in, it becomes more storied and a more desirable place to live in. The prime example for this theory is Hollywood itself. When every major production was made in Hollywood, people began flocking there. Everyone who had ambitions of becoming an actor or a producer for the movies had dreams of moving to Hollywood and many did with only a few being successful. However, by the 1980s, Hollywood was no longer a dream place to live, instead turning into a nightmare. An article by the Sun-Sentinel on June 13, 1988 cited some of the horrors, such as “a 15-year-old girl passed out in an apartment stairwell, nearly dead of a drug overdose. Gunshots in the night. Children throwing bottles at passing cars because the street is their playground” (Stracher). These social problems, as well as the movies beginning to move to other places, signaled the end of Hollywood’s reign as the movie-making capital of the world. Since Reno does not have the extreme social issues that Hollywood continues to struggle with today, it can focus on attempting to lure producers and filmmakers to the region to make movies. An increase in numbers of movies made in the area can help gain a positive reputation for the area and attract more recognition of other businesses within Reno. Even though Hollywood may be on the decline, Reno is in the process of attracting more and more big names to the area for major productions.

The impact of movies in Reno, while beneficial, may not have hit such a chord with lawmakers in Nevada. On September 12, 2014, electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors announced a deal to build their “Gigafactory” just outside of Reno. While this deal will bring significant economic impact, the movie business is one of the industries that loses funds because of it. Recently, an $80 million tax credit fund was created to try to lure production companies to Reno. According to an article by Forbes, the fund will lose $70 million because of the deal with Tesla, dropping its available funds to $10 million over the next 4 years (Maynard). This consequence is a major negative impact on what could be a niche sector for the local economy. With Nevada’s tax structure being especially lenient to businesses, compared to many other states, the tax credit would have been a good way to revitalize the state’s affiliation with the movie industry. Holabird mentioned that we might lose a couple of small projects due to these cuts, but our fund was small to begin with compared to other states, such as New York. However, with the loss of funds, the state can not offer much of a tax break to the small filmmakers who may choose to take their business elsewhere. This strategy has become more and more apparent in politics. Tax breaks are given to the manufacturing and technology companies, while the arts and entertainment are denied the funds that were supposedly theirs. While ideally, both visual arts and manufacturing should be treated fairly by state legislatures, often there are not enough funds in the budget to support both fields. Therefore, legislators often pick manufacturing, with more immediate and guaranteed benefits as opposed to the movie industry’s unpredictable and long-term benefits. However, Holabird expressed that the Tesla deal may be good for the film industry in Reno. The deal brought significant national attention to the area and has excited people outside of the area. This excitement in turn will make sure the area is noticed by important people in all sorts of fields, including the film industry. Therefore, Reno’s rich history in the movies will continue to help carry it and allow it to expand and become a greater force to be reckoned with in the future.

Even though movies are supposed to have a certain element of glitz and glamour, the people of Reno do not exhibit that kind of behavior. The residents of the city know that the area is not a “hotbed of film making” and not very well known for the movies that are made here (Maynard). This lack of publicity can lead to a certain ignorance among people about movies that are made here. In some cases, the people who live in the area may not even know that a movie was made (or partially made) in Reno until they see it in theaters. The history and heritage of movies made in the Northern Nevada area is not widely documented. In the case of the Tesla deal, it seems as if legislators were all too happy to greatly reduce the tax credit for movies in exchange for a larger manufacturing presence. Without a significant push for the local government to allot funds to attempt to bring movie production to Reno, the number of films made in this area will continue to decline in numbers, and eventually Reno will have very little silver screen presence.

Fortunately, there are ways that local independent productions can become noticed and seen by residents of the area. One such way was through the annual Reno Film Festival. The event was an avenue for local filmmakers to show off their creations to the rest of the area and get feedback and critique on their productions. The event was started by Holabird, and ran for 10 years and was considered a success in bringing together filmmakers, producers, and audiences from the area. Other film events have taken place in the Reno region, such as the Manhattan Short Film Festival, which is held in the Joe Crowley Student Union on the University of Nevada, Reno campus. The event brought several short films from around the world to Reno for viewers to watch and vote on the their favorites. The event has been held here a few times over the years and is rather successful in diversifying people’s views of other places and the films that came from them. Other ways that Nevada has been exposed to the movies is through the Nevada Film Office (NFO). The NFO is a government-funded organization that helps film producers in Nevada find studios, places to film, and other resources that are needed in order to make a movie. They are the guiding hand that helps movies get a start if they are unsure of a location or their legal rights as a business in Nevada. Many of these resources are useful to both large and independent film makers, allowing them to take advantage of everything Nevada has to offer in terms of film creation.

Some people may wonder what will be the future of the movie industry in Reno? The answer to this question is rather uncertain. There is definitely less appeal in Reno now that the legislature has viciously slashed the tax credit fund that was going to be used to bring movie production into Reno. The university has all but turned the film companies away from using its historic campus. This is not to say that the movie industry will not flourish in Northern Nevada; it just has to adapt to what can be used. The casinos have long since been friendly to the film companies. The productions bring cast and crew members, who all need to eat, drink, sleep, and have some fun, and that can turn into much needed funds for the struggling casinos in Reno. Plus, there is no better place to shoot a casino scene for a movie than in a real-life casino. Just outside of Reno are the Sierra Nevada mountains, which provide epic trees and hills as well as Lake Tahoe, which is considered by some to be the most beautiful lake in the world. These locations are areas of natural beauty that can really add depth and emotion into almost any movie and any scene. While modern technologies are vastly improving, nothing can quite match the peaceful, quiet wind blowing through the Sierra Nevada pines and the calm, melodic, waves of Lake Tahoe that can be captured by filming on site. If a movie production requires ranches, cowboys, and other remnants of the Old West, Reno can help accommodate those movies too. Outside of Reno, there is plenty of wide open space and desert shrubbery to give a realistic feel of the 19th century west. There are many working ranches that would possibly allow a movie to be filmed on their land, making the scene much more authentic. Reno still has the landscape and scenery that can make itself appealing to much of the movies made in Hollywood today.

Even though Reno has some of the most beautiful land on this side of the Mississippi River, other things need to happen to secure Reno’s place among silver screen royalty. The legislature must come to understand that Reno can find real success in the movie industry, but it needs some help to get there. The state government needs to realize that Reno can make it big in the movies and set money aside to help out. These tax credits are very appealing to film producers as an affordable way to film their movies, and they are much more likely to do so, as in the example of New York. By comparison, Nevada has a $10 million dollar tax credit fund set up to help movies out with production costs over the next four years (Maynard). So the question remains: why would a film maker want to make a movie in Nevada while they can do it in New York and come out financially better? There really is no answer right now, which is why Nevada needs to step up its offers to production companies if they come and film in the state. If Reno can get some big-name productions made in, or around, the city, there could be an increase in tourism to the area. Tourism is one of Reno’s biggest industries and it took a hit during the Great Recession of 2007-2009. In the entire United States, jobs based around tourism fell by around 3.6% which equated to the loss of about 200,000 jobs (Ritche 12). An increase in people coming to the region, may help spark a big recovery of the sector and an increase in money to the infrastructure of Reno.

Movies are a decent way to bring much needed funds into an economy such as Reno’s that is primarily based on tourism. While producers attempt to spend as little as possible on these things, the money spent directly helps the economy. Holabird said that there is a formula that film makers use to determine how much they spend, and every film is a little different. A small film will spend less money here as compared to a large film with many actors and action scenes. Holabird told me that the movie Love Ranch, filmed just outside of Reno, spent $3 million dollars to make the movie, and they spent under a week making it. This money goes directly back to the economy and can help the local businesses thrive. The money that comes with the movies is often significant and is well worth the focus of our local government.

To this day, movies have always been a big money maker and a form of wealth for a select few people. Hollywood had been taken by storm by such prolific actors as Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, and Clark Gable among others. Two of these actors listed have starred in popular movies in northern Nevada and have brought their fame and influence to the town of Reno. Since then, many actors have graced sets in Reno created a new niche economic sector for the city. The city has a rich history of movies made within its borders. From the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe contemplating tossing the wedding ring off Virginia Street Bridge into the Truckee River below it, to the scenes of students ice skating on a frozen Manzanita Lake on the University campus in Apartment for Peggy, Reno’s film history is rich and full of impressive details.

Unfortunately, Reno’s storied history on the silver screen may soon come to a close. The state politicians have determined the unimportance of the movie business coming to Reno and chose to promote manufacturing instead. With less funds to draw the movie companies into the city, it will be harder and harder to get movies made here, which can lead to a decline of one of Reno’s most under-appreciated economic opportunities. But things will turn around as they always do. Holabird seems optimistic for the future of movies in the Reno area. She cited the great scenery, unique features of the area, and even the Tesla deal as selling points for film producers. If the state legislature can see the tremendous impact of the movies and authorize an incentive package, the movie producers and film makers will be back in Reno in no time. With appeals like this, there is no doubt that Reno will return to become a significant force in the movies.

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