{"id":3458,"date":"2015-04-13T10:17:13","date_gmt":"2015-04-13T16:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.parkrag.com\/?p=3458"},"modified":"2015-04-13T10:17:13","modified_gmt":"2015-04-13T16:17:13","slug":"press-release-highlight-the-problems-with-park-city-film-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v2.parkrag.com\/index.php\/2015\/04\/13\/press-release-highlight-the-problems-with-park-city-film-studios\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release Highlight the Problems with Park City Film Studios"},"content":{"rendered":"

Park City Film Studios (PCFS) is nearing completion and it’s time to take another look at what they are planning. While I have been critical of the project, now that its opening,\u00a0I hope it achieves enough success to be viable. Yet, reading a press release<\/a> from March makes me question whether their strategy will work. Here is the press release, with my comments in yellow:<\/p>\n

[stag_divider style=”dotted”]<\/p>\n

Film Studios to Bring Hollywood-Level Production<\/strong><\/p>\n

PARK CITY, Utah \u2013 The Utah Film Commission has always welcomed Hollywood to our beautiful state and its diversified terrain, and soon Tinseltown will have even more reasons to head east.<\/p>\n

There have been nearly 1,000 Hollywood feature films shot in the state, like \u201cButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u201d, \u201cThelma & Louise\u201d, and \u201cIndiana Jones and the Last Crusade\u201d. But there has been one thing that film makers didn\u2019t have in this area: real Hollywood-style sound stages and production studios. But they will soon.<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]The films mentioned were made at least 20 years ago. They of course left out Utah’s two most recent big-budget flops<\/del> films,\u00a0John Carter and Lone Ranger. While this doesn’t matter too much, it seems big budget movies film in Utah when they need the Bonneville Salt Flats or the southern desert. \u00a0I could understand how a movie that films almost exclusively in Utah may want to use the Park City Film Studios (i.e. 127 Hours), but how many of those are there? What seems more likely\u00a0is a film like 2009’s Star Trek that has a scene in the San Rafael Swell. Will that scene in southern Utah make the film makers want to use PCFS. I find that hard to believe.\u00a0[\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The developers of Park City Film Studios hope their location will become \u201cHollywood East\u201d, and they broke ground on the project in October of 2013. Chairman Greg Ericksen said their studios will provide a boon to the local film industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can film anything in Park City now that you can film anywhere in the world, either film or television,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, we finally got the missing element: the infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]This seems to be a bit of hyperbole. For example, where’s the huge back lot at the Film Studio?\u00a0\u00a0What if the majority of the movie required an urban setting? I’ll let those issues go, though, and focus on something more important. They say they “finally got the missing element.: infrastructure.” I’d say that they are still missing another key component: people. Not that Salt Lake doesn’t have great people (they do); however, they are not the exact<\/strong> people<\/strong> they use in Hollywood. If you need to film some special effects are you going to fly your top, trusted people to Park City or are you just going to do it in Hollywood? I could be wrong but there would have to be something very compelling here to make that happen.[\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ericksen is the mastermind behind the studios and wholeheartedly believes the $120 million project will be a boon to the local economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you\u2019ll see what Park City has wanted for a long time, and that\u2019s the second economy during the shoulder months,\u201d Ericksen said. \u201cI think you\u2019ll see the hotels and eateries pretty much filled up all year round now.\u201d<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]Actually, I think the average Parkite\u00a0loves the shoulder season here. Someone like Bill White Restaurant Group, maybe\u00a0not. This gets to the root of some of the arrogance surrounding this project. \u00a0Mr Erikson tells residents\u00a0the 70 foot monstrosity that blocks the mountain from Highway is going to be\u00a0beautiful. That it will fill up our town in the shoulder season. That his project will diversify our community and fill our restaurants. It’s almost like he doesn’t live here in Park City. Wait, does he? [\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While those associated with Park City Film Studios feel confident about Ericksen\u2019s vision, there are some doubters, however, who feel the 374,000 square-foot facility will bring a rash of congestion to the city. Ericksen said his team has done their homework.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked at congestion, we\u2019ve done traffic studies,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve remediated that, most of that. We don\u2019t feel like it\u2019s going to be as significant as most people feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]Exactly how has traffic congestion be remediated? As far as I know, this sits on 248. If the studio is successful at all, there will be more people on 248 at 8AM. If the hotel is built next door, there will be more people on 248. There is a huge parking lot out front? How are people going to park there if they don’t drive down 248? Perhaps Mr Erikson has a plan to only open the studio at night and not allow hotel guests to park there? [\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One great thing about Park City Film Studios is they have everything Hollywood has to offer, but Hollywood doesn\u2019t have what Park City has to offer\u2014some of the most beautiful views in the world.<\/p>\n

Ericksen said he feels that upon completion of the studios, Park City will be able to match Hollywood\u2019s production values while offering a whole different feel. A recent visit from a frazzled Hollywood studio executive echoed that sentiment.<\/p>\n

Ericksen explained: \u201cShe said, \u2018Gradually my muscles started to relax,\u2019 she said, \u2018I started to breathe\u2019 and she said, \u2018I just said to myself, Ah, what a great place to be creative.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]I don’t exactly envision the making of a movie relaxing. Perhaps I’ve watched too many movies about the making of movies. Maybe\u00a0the film production staff\u00a0will work 6 hour days and get down to Main Street to dine and have drinks at Silver by 5PM. \u00a0They’ll enjoy long hikes and ride their bikes along the rail trail. I guess I don’t know anything about how movies are actually made. I pictured it as hard, but this sounds absolutely\u00a0cushy.[\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The film industry is a huge business. Producing a feature film costs millions of dollars. For example, the blockbuster film \u201cGravity\u201d relied heavily on special effects and cost around $100 million to make. Just the kind of work that will soon be available at the new studios, and that excites Ericksen.<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]I’ll be positive for a moment. If PCFS\u00a0could be the go to<\/strong> studio for something like Gravity, that would awesome. If it became known that you\u00a0just had\u00a0to do projects like\u00a0that\u00a0here, what\u00a0a coup for Park City… OK, back to being not-so-positive. Gravity took 4 1\/2 years to make and they had to invent technologies to actually make it work. Just because you build a building and buy some equipment doesn’t mean that you can make one of the most technically challenging films every produced. Wow.[\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI think not only to the greatest snow on Earth, but I think it\u2019s going to be home to the greatest stories on Earth, which is fantastic and really my passion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Although Park City Film Studios still looks like it\u2019s a long way from completion, it\u2019s really not. Ericksen said the hard part is done, and a lot of the mechanics, technical and special effects equipment is already here and will soon be installed. The studios hope to open in early summer of this year.<\/p>\n

[su_highlight background=”#fefbd9″]Again, I wish PCFS luck, but I worry about them. I worry about the strategy. I worry about the location. I worry about the impact on traffic. I worry about the hotel being built there. I worry that’s Quinn’s will become a strip mall. And more than anything I worry about the conversations I hear around town where people are already bickering about what the land\u00a0should\u00a0be used for once the studio fails. That means I’m not alone with my concerns.[\/su_highlight]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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