A look at moviemaking in the Wyoming, where many scenes are set but not actually filmed. Why aren't more crews coming to Wyoming for filming? How is the Legislature supporting this opportunity? Written for the Wyoming Rural Electric News, 2018.
2. MARCH 2018 W R E N M A G A Z I N E 17
IN WYOMING, a filmmaker can see Alaska, New Mexico, even
sand dunes. A filmmaker can dress a set on a dude ranch or a
ghost town – modern like Jeffrey City or rough like Trail Town in
Cody. There’s raging white water of the Snake and the solitude of
the Niobrara’s flat water. Looming peaks. Peaceful pastures.
continued on next page
WYOMING'S FILMMAKER FUNDING SUNSETS,
SOME STILL SEE THE FUTURE ON THE BIG SCREEN
That all begs the question: Why aren’t more films being
made in Wyoming?
The landscape, everyone will agree, has no competition. The
friendly people have no equal in western states. Aside from
a set, a story and the talent, however, money
is needed to make a movie, and these days
there’s little support for filming a large- or
small-scale production here. When the leg-
islatively-endowed film industry stimulus
program sunsets at the end of the fiscal year,
there won’t be any financial incentive for
filmmaking.
A fund, formally called the Wyoming Film
Industry Financial Incentive (FIFI) program,
was enacted in 2007 and seeded with $1
million from state coffers. The funds were administered by
the Wyoming Office of Tourism’s Film Office, with a goal of
bringing the entertainment industry here, a move designed
to, among other things, put Wyoming on the map for tourists
looking for a place to live out their romantic vacation fantasy
or their action-packed dream adventure.
When the 57th Wyoming Legislature created FIFI and then
set a provision for the fund to sunset 12
years later, the state’s small network of film
and tourism industry advocates took note of
that firm end date. Today, people like Sher-
idan-native Salvatore “Max” Brown, himself
a filmmaker, are promoting the state with
support from Sheridan Travel and Tourism’s
executive director Shawn Parker.
The move to disable those funds elicited a
grassroots effort based in Sheridan, where
Parker and highly-respected producer and
assistant director Bruce Moriarity (Forrest Gump, So I Married
an Axe Murderer), who also lives in Sheridan, have taken an
active interest in continuing recruitment efforts.
OPPOSITE LEFT Jesse
Judy and Oakley Boycott on
location at the saloon at the
Museum of the American West
in Lander, featuring a bottle of
Contortionist Gin by Backwards
Distillery.
ABOVE LEFT Jesse Judy and
Oakley Boycott on location at the
Killpecker Sand Dunes.
CAPTIONED PHOTOS BY WILLY RATZ AND MEI RATZ
3. It’s Brown’s job to coax the
crews to Wyoming, to wine
and dine the producers with-
out wine or dining. He’s more tour guide than handler, offering spread-
sheets of associated costs for accommodations, not dessert menus. Job
one, however, is getting the decision makers to Wyoming. Relationships
are his stock in trade, as it is for every salesperson.
That means traveling to film trade shows – an effort funded by the Wy-
oming Office of Tourism – to lure producers with incredible sweeping
landscapes, unbeatable access and low costs of room and board with a
heaping side dish of Wyoming hospitality. Cold-calling on tips about pos-
sible productions, such as westerns for which the Big Horns or the Snowy
Range might complement the story. It means finding Wyoming business
owners who might be willing to make a deal for a week’s accommodations
Cutting FIFI funding made sense to some, Parker
notes. The state’s primary economic driver – energy
– is experiencing a downturn, so the state isn’t as
rich as it once was.The Wyoming Lodge and Restau-
rant Association argues that the exposure of Wyo-
ming on screens large and small brings more visitors
to Wyoming.Tourism is,after all,Wyoming’s second
largest industry.
“As a state,difficult decisions had to be made,”Park-
er says.
FIFI funding was an area that was cut, but with the
provision that as state coffers are refueled, the pro-
gram can be funded again, thanks to a footnote put
forth by Sen.Bruce Burns (R-Sher-
idan) in the 2016 budget session.
Parker also can count the Wyo-
ming Film Office among the allies.
Information on permits, locations
and crew resources can be found
on the Tourism Office site. As part
of the informal partnership, the
Film Office directs inquiries to
Parker and Brown, who says that
while his focus is on Sheridan
– he’s an employee of Sheridan
Travel and Tourism - he supports
and promotes filming throughout
the state.
CuetheLongmirethemesongandopeningsequence,
which just finished its sixth (and final) season.
The series brought a spotlight not only to Buffalo,
the basis of the series’ fictional setting of Durant,
but also to the novel’s author, Buffalo-based writer
Craig Johnson. The series has been translated into
14 languages, and it’s brought about 12,000 visitors
to Northeast Wyoming each year for Longmire Days,
which will be August 10-12. Longmire, as any lover
of Wyoming filmography knows, was filmed in New
Mexico, where film incentive dollars are richer than
Wyoming’s.
“We can say that when a film series is set in a loca-
tion in Wyoming, it helps (audiences) gain aware-
ness in ways that would otherwise be unattainable,”
says Tia Troy of the Wyoming Office of Tourism.
“Those visitors have a positive impact on the state,
region and town.”
18 W R E N M A G A Z I N E MARCH 2018
continued from page 17
When a film series is set in
Wyoming, it helps (audiences)
gain awareness in ways
that would otherwise be
unattainable. Those visitors
have a positive impact on the
state, region and town.
RIGHT Michael Ormiston
shoots film for Sheridan Travel
and Tourism in September.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERIDAN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
4. to house a film crew for half-price so filming can happen
nearby or even on that dude ranch or at a hotel in Wright.
It means hoping that without FIFI dollars, those deals are
enough, and so far, that’s not often the case.
“They all want those incentive dollars,” Brown said. “No
productions have come here yet, but we work on a five-year
cycle.”
It takes five years, in other words, for the decision to film
here or anywhere else to be made, budgeted and planned.
All is not lost for film advocates though.Brown is selling his
native Wyoming after all, and how hard is that?
“We really only want to work with people who really want
to be here,” Brown said.“Here, you don’t need to dress your
set. That’s what we tell them.”
The Bachelorette wanted to come to Wyoming. The produc-
ers wanted too much for too little. Brown was fine with tell-
ing them a deal just couldn’t be struck under those terms.
“All the ranches turned them down,” he said. “In the end,
we’re in Wyoming, and we’re here to serve Wyoming. We
do that by evaluating where the true value lies for both the
production company and the Wyoming (business owner).”
ABOVE Jesse Judy and Oakley Boycott in
between takes, on location in downtown Lander.
PHOTOBYWILLYRATZANDMEIRATZ
LOOKING TO WATCH WYOMING?
THESE MAJOR PRODUCTIONS
WERE FILMED RIGHT HERE
IN THE COWBOY STATE.
DJANGO UNCHAINED
released 2012
Jackson Hole
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND
released 1977
Devils Tower National Monument, Black Hills National Forest
STARSHIP TROOPERS
released 1997
Hell’s Half Acre, Powder River, Casper
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
released 2005
Grand Teton National Park
SHANE
released 1953
Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole, Teton Range
WIND RIVER
released 2017
Wind River Reservation, Fremont County, Lander
SPENCER’S MOUNTAIN
released 1963
Grand Teton National Park, Jackson Hole
FLICKA
released 2006
Sheridan
THE MOUNTAIN MEN
released 1980
Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks,
Shoshone and Bridger-Teton national forests
THE LARAMIE PROJECT
2002
Laramie
ROCKY IV
released 1985
Jackson Hole, Jackson Airport, Grand Teton National Park
REEL WYOMING
continued on next page
5. Rolls Royce filmed near Sheridan, Brown
says. Quentin Tarantino’s 2012 film
Django Unchained filmed in Jackson
Hole. The sci-fi classic, Close Encounters
of the Third Kind, was filmed in North-
east Wyoming, including Devil’s Tower
National Monument. The 2015-hit The
Revenant was set (in part) in Wyoming,
but filmed in Canada, Montana and
Mexico.
Sometimes value is somewhere else, as
in the case The Revenant and of Long-
mire. This is the reality of bringing film
crews to Wyoming, concedes Oakley
Boycott, a Lander-born actor and model
now making a living in New York City.
“Sure, the rest of the world doesn’t know
the difference between Wyoming and
New Mexico,” says Boycott. “The rest of
the world doesn’t necessarily care.Other
places make it so much easier (to film).”
Boycott is doing her part, to be sure.
When she landed a role in a sci-fi west-
ern, The Rider, she insisted on a conver-
sation. Who films a western in New York
City, Boycott asked.
“I just said ‘Hey guys, why are you
shooting a western here? You don’t get
the production quality you should be
getting, the quality you could be get-
ting,” she explained in a phone inter-
view. “I pitched
Wyoming. I went
home at Christ-
mas and kept
sending them
pictures.”
The producer,
Jesse Judy, was convinced to come scout
the state for locations with her.Judy now
plans to film about 85 percent of the fea-
ture-length piece in Wyoming, primarily
in and around Lander and the Killpecker
Sand Dunes in Sweetwater County. It
will release later this year, he says.
Quite frankly, Wyoming doesn’t offer
the pool of talent more densely populat-
ed states might. There are no production
houses here. No slew of makeup artists,
camera operators, gaffers or grips. All
that talent must be brought in, and that
adds cost. But that doesn’t cost Wyo-
ming, Boycott points out.
When crews are in town,they don’t com-
pete for seasonal employment or hous-
ing in areas where neither is abundant.
When they are here, they spend money
at hotels and restaurants – dollars that
serve the very local economies of the
Cowboy State, Boycott explains.
While selling her native state in her
free time, she and Judy were commis-
sioned on another
project: The Cow-
boy Hall of Fame
needed filmed bi-
ographies of some
of Wyoming’s best
cowboys. The two
toured Wyoming
in Boycott’s fa-
ther’s minivan,
interviewing 47
inductees ages 75-91. Naturally, she
took the opportunity to ask them about
how they felt about film crews coming to
Wyoming.
“They’ve seen their own industry
change, and it felt like everyone was in
general agreement that things need to
shift, even if we’d like them to stay the
same,” she says.
Maybe filmmakers won’t stoke the eco-
nomic fires long and hard like energy
and tourism. But that doesn’t deter na-
tives like Boycott and Brown.
“There’s something very rugged about
Wyoming on film,” Brown says. “I want
to make movies here. It’s such a unique
place.” W
Juliette Rule writes for WREN and commands
digital marketing for her LLC, Bridger Commu-
nications. She rides, skis and hikes with her
Australian cattle dog, Maszlo, in state parks and
national forests throughout Montana, Wyo-
ming and Colorado.
20 W R E N M A G A Z I N E MARCH 2018
continued from page 19
LEFT TO RIGHT Shawn Parker and
Salvatore Brown, of Sheridan Travel and
Tourism, pose with actor Christoph Waltz
and producer Bruce Moriarty during the
American Film Commissioners International
Conference in Los Angeles in April. Waltz
traveled to Wyoming for his role in Django
Unchained, and Moriarty lives in Sheridan.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERIDAN TRAVEL AND TOURISM
There’s something
very rugged about
Wyoming on film.
I want to make movies
here. It’s such a
unique place.
