A couple of years ago, Reno-based cinematographer Bryon Evans was working on a low-budget film with his friend, director Mitch Yapko, in Los Angeles.
“I just wanted to go outside and get a quick shot of this building,” Evans said. “(Mitch) said, ‘Stop. You can’t put your tripod on the sidewalk.’ And I was like, ‘What do you mean? It’s just a quick shot. It’ll take me five seconds.’”
Lawmakers in L.A. know the industry—and that location fees can be lucrative for local coffers. But in Nevada, few such barriers exist. “Then we come up here, and we’re filming a short film … with kids riding bikes in Carson City,” Evans said. “I put my tripod on the sidewalk, and I say, ‘Mitch, look what we can do.’”
Affordability and ease are among the many benefits Evans and other filmmakers appreciate about Northern Nevada, which is why many of them are collaborating to grow the Silver State’s film industry by making their own films here, advocating for more tax incentives, and fostering local talent.
Evans is collaborating in an as-yet-unnamed production company composed of his wife, production designer Shannon Balazs; producer Sandra Dorst; producers and founders of the team; writer/co-producer Marc Oakley; writer/director Stephen George; and actors Arianne Zucker and Shawn Christian, a couple known best for their longtime roles in NBC’s Days of Our Lives, who relocated to Lake Tahoe six years ago. All are based in the Reno-Tahoe area, and each of them had been in the others’ orbits for a while when they finally decided to pull together in the same direction—toward creating a groundswell of filmmaking opportunity for themselves and others in Nevada.
“We were all working in our own silos, doing our own projects, getting our own things off the ground, and this is what we’d like to see as the beginning phase of us all coming together to get all of that experience and knowledge onto one project, and bring as many of the filmmakers, cast and crew onto the set, to start to really build this industry in Reno,” said Dorst.
They’re starting with An Anniversary, written by George, a University of Nevada, Reno, graduate, starring Zucker and Christian, and supported by the others in their areas of specialty. Their budget is $300,000, and they’ve raised more than one-third of that. They aim to begin production in February. All bring impressive levels of film cred. George’s own short film won Best International Film at the Whistler Film Festival. Evans’ short horror film Inflatio has earned numerous film festival awards. Balasz’s credits include set dresser for Jeremy Renner’s Rennervations. Oakley’s own film, Mimics, shot in Reno and starring Kristoffer Polaha as the lead and director, along with the likes of Chris Parnell and Stephen Tobolowsky, premiered to rave reviews at the recent Cordillera International Film Festival in Reno and is scheduled to open in theaters nationwide on Feb. 6, 2026.
Cordillera’s founder, screenwriter and producer Emily Skyle-Golden, explained: “To get major players to come to the region, you need a world-class film festival, so that’s how Cordillera was born.”
She added that the 2026 festival will be its ninth. “On the fifth day of the festival, we do Film (N)NV Day. We take studio heads, executives and filmmakers who are at a point in their careers where they can make decisions as to where they’re going to film around the region, from Tahoe to Carson City, to prisons and the Reno Aces stadium, trying to excite them and get them to want to come back here. And it’s working.”
The region sells itself, she said. After all, Nevada offers every location imaginable, from ghost towns to neon lights, deserts and mountains, pine forests and playa, all of which make for movie magic. And it’s only a short flight away from L.A.
Cordillera is one corner of the triangle she said is the foundation for a filmmaking destination. The others are the Film Northern Nevada Initiative—a team including Skyle-Golden, her husband, Ryan Golden, and others involved in the industry who work to provide infrastructure and support for local productions—and the Future Filmmakers Foundation, which brings in aspiring filmmakers to learn the craft from mentors and gain experience that propels them into work opportunities.
What also helps is tax incentives—a major draw for film studios. Currently, the state offers a maximum film-tax credit of $10 million. With strong support from Warner Bros. and Sony, who have committed to bringing major work to Nevada, a new proposed $120 million tax break is up for debate in Nevada’s upcoming special legislative session. Skyle-Golden said that while some Nevadans are averse to the idea of tax breaks for filmmakers, such an incentive can pay major dividends to us all.
“We have examples of one series that came in and had a $56.3 million financial impact,” she said. “It served 83,000 meals. It had an unfathomable amount of hotel room nights and heads in beds, from crew and teams that were coming in. … I think $9.7 million went to 40 local vendors, and that’s just one production. I think what people don’t understand is that when you’re doing Tesla or Apple statistics, you’re looking at the employee who is hired and the economic impact, dollar per dollar, of that individual. The difference with film sets is that they’re always growing. … You’re always hiring electricians and painters, and there are hotel room nights and incentives being brought in. And there are per diems that they burn through while they’re here.”
Of course, to meet tax-incentive requirements, studios must hire locally, which means many good-paying jobs.
“The amazing thing is that with just a single film, even one with a small budget like ours, you’re talking about funding 40 artists,” said Dorst.
Evans added that while there is considerable talent here—in all aspects of filmmaking, from writers and actors to photographers and makeup artists—there’s demand for more, particularly if the proposed tax incentive is passed. There currently is no film school in Northern Nevada. That’s where mentorship to grow our talent pool is key. Evans, Dorst, Zucker and Christian are all committed to mentoring young talent to prepare them for bigger jobs in the industry, here and elsewhere.
“The more films being made, the more crew everyone’s going to need, right?” Dorst said. “Because right now, many of us are all pulling from the same pool, so as this industry becomes more and more successful, the more crew everyone’s going to need.”
Skyle-Golden said there are several film projects headed for the Reno-Tahoe area, including her own film, Tuna; My Friend Jim, which began filming at Reno’s Virginia Lake in October and features Rob Lowe; a Warner Bros. skiing comedy; and an action film shooting in Carson City starring Ruby Rose, of Orange Is the New Black fame.
There’s room for locals to benefit, too: Register a location you own as a film location, or register your business as a vendor or supporting service with Film Nevada at film.nv.gov, and you may just play a role in this booming industry yourself.
Learn more about these and other upcoming local film projects and news by visiting the Cordillera website at www.ciffnv.org or www.ananniversaryfilm.com.