October 1, 2003 2:56 PM ET

Las Vegas Studio Rolls Dice in Film, TV Business

By Steve Friess

LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - In a roll of the Hollywood dice, four Las Vegas entrepreneurs on Wednesday unveiled a new film and TV production company aimed at cashing in on the increasing interest in Sin City as a setting for movies and television shows.

Trent Othick, president of Insomnia Entertainment, said his group already has five film projects in the works set primarily in Las Vegas or using the city as a backdrop for some scenes.

In recent years, Hollywood has come to Las Vegas following the success of movie "Ocean's Eleven" and top-rated TV drama "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."

"It's a myth that you have to be located in Los Angeles to be in the film business," said Othick, 31, formerly director of development of film, television and new media for L.A.-based Paradise Music and Entertainment Co.

"It helps, but we're an hour's flight away in Vegas. There are a lot of stories and characters that come from here, are located here. Everybody is fascinated by this city," he said.

Insomnia's first film, "Standing Still," carries a production cost of up to $4 million. That budget puts the project in the vein of art house, or independent films.

The company is casting for "Yonkers Joe," about a gambler who seeks the perfect casino scam to pay for his mentally challenged son's care. After that, Insomnia plans biographical movies about poker legend Doyle Brunson and basketball star Brian Williams.

Othick's partners are Station Casinos Inc. president Lorenzo Fertitta and Travelscape.Com founders Tim Poster and Tom Breitling, who sold their company to Expedia.Com, now a unit of InterActiveCorp, then bought the Golden Nugget casinos in Nevada.

Fertitta, Poster and Breitling are all 34 years-old, and their age reflects the shifting interests in Las Vegas away from gambling and toward entertainment, Othick said.

Casinos, once reluctant to allow filming due to the disrupting crews, are becoming more accommodating. Mandalay Resort Group has encouraged the use of its properties for TV shows such as "Las Vegas" and "Fear Factor," and MGM Mirage provided its resorts for use in "Ocean's Eleven."

"It is a logical step," said MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman. "This is a great place to make movies, Las Vegas specifically, but also the surrounding desert areas are a perfect site for Westerns and futuristic movies."

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