Jason Soto is trying to do his part to bring Hollywood to Las Vegas.
Soto is the director of strategic projects for Vū Technologies, an operator of high-tech, virtual video production studios. The firm includes Vū Vegas, where “Sympathy for the Devil,” a feature film starring Nicolas Cage and Joel Kinnaman, recently was shot. With filming on that movie wrapped up, Soto now wants to help Nevada attract more major productions.
Soto was among those who testified before Nevada lawmakers earlier this year in favor of increasing incentives for film and TV companies that come to the southern part of the Silver State. He joined other film industry advocates and lobbyists who wanted the legislature to consider Senate Bill 496. If adopted, the bill would have made $190 million in film infrastructure tax credits available each year for the next 20 years.
But the bill, even with supporters including Las Vegas actor-resident Mark Wahlberg, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Howard Hughes Corp., didn’t make it to a vote in the state legislature. Soto and some lawmakers said they believe the proposed legislation will come back in some form.
“There’s a lot of hope that we’ll see it in special session,” said Soto, a Las Vegas native who’s been an active advocate for turning the gaming capital into a film and TV production hub.
Similar types of tax incentives have helped developers in New Jersey, Georgia and other locations outside Hollywood dramatically increase the amount of real estate dedicated to movie and television production facilities in their states. In Nevada, the state already offers production companies a film tax incentive, free location scouting and other benefits. Also, the city of Las Vegas offers free permits for filming, according to the Nevada Film Office.
The competition between states for entertainment production is stiff. In Georgia, which passed its film tax credit in 2005, producers of movies and television shows spent $4.1 billion during fiscal year 2023, Gov. Brian Kemp said last week. The Peach State hosted 390 productions, including 31 feature films, 55 independent films and 241 television and episodic productions, between July 1, 2022, and June 30, according to the Georgia Film Office which is part of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.
Along with lobbying for more incentives for his home state, Soto is busy around the country. In Nevada, Soto ran Vū Vegas’s studio at 901 Grier Drive near Harry Reid International Airport as its general manager for more than a year. His recent promotion gives him broader national duties for his company, which also has locations in Orlando and Tampa, Florida, and Nashville, Tennessee.
At roughly 42,000 square feet, Vū Vegas allows TV and film producers to shoot scenes in photo-realistic virtual environments in an LED studio instead of having to travel on location, saving costs and time. When Vū Vegas served as the production site for “Sympathy for the Devil,” it marked the first time a feature film had been shot on an LED sound stage in Nevada, according to Soto.
Soto said he started his career on the engineering and technical side, in telecommunications and video-transport services. He worked transporting programming — concerts, boxing matches and other events — to production vans, then out to satellites and from there to the world. His assignments included working on the 1997 heavyweight championship fight where boxer Mike Tyson bit off part of rival Evander Holyfield’s ear.
“That was a crazy night, a scary night,” Soto said.
He eventually got into data center architecture and then started his own interactive-marketing consulting firm. He sold it and eventually came to work for Vū.
Natalie Wainwright, owner of Omnipresence Commercial brokerage, found Soto flex space to lease in Las Vegas, and Vū paid $7 million to create the state-of-the-art studio in the space that opened in April last year. Clients have shot commercials and TV and movie segments at the site, which has also hosted events like the Emmy Awards for technology and engineering this year.
Vū Vegas late last month hosted the National Football League and Las Vegas Super Bowl LVIII Host Committee press conference on the events planned for the big Feb. 11 game, which will be played at Allegiant Stadium.
Las Vegas and Nevada have been historically involved in gaming, tourism and construction, and now there’s a new narrative of sports and entertainment, according to Soto. And the city, with its proximity to Los Angeles, is at the point where movie-making should be part of its story, he said.
As he works to increase movie and TV production in Vegas, Soto may do so with flair, according to a credo he posted as part of his LinkedIn profile.
“Life is an occasion…Do it in style,” he said.