Park City studio idling, waiting for next big production

It started out with a gusher — a network TV series titled “Blood & Oil” — but activities at the new Park City Film Studios have slowed to a relative trickle. Still, the facility at 4001 Kearns Blvd. is hosting other events, trying to secure smaller productions and waiting for another biggie to come along.

It started out with a gusher — a network TV series titled “Blood & Oil” — but activities at the new Park City Film Studios have slowed to a relative trickle.

Still, the facility at 4001 Kearns Blvd. is hosting other events, trying to secure smaller productions and waiting for another biggie to come along.

“It’s a very large space and not everyone can use it, but we’re trying to make it as user-friendly as possible by working with the independent features that are coming in,” Marshall Moore, the studios’ vice president of marketing, public relations and government relations, told the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board at its June meeting.

Moore said the facility is in discussions to get productions in the $1 million to $4 million range — which he described as Utah’s “sweet spot” — to film in the studios. During that GOED board meeting, state film incentives were approved for six productions, with five falling into that spending range in Utah.

“And we’re trying to work with those in-between when the next ‘Blood & Oil’ or the next ‘Everwood’ or ‘Touched by an Angel’-type show comes in, and that’s really how the studio will thrive,” Moore said.

“Blood & Oil,” an ABC prime time network series, was in place when the Park City Film Studios opened its doors last June. Titled “Boom” and later “Oil” during production, “Blood & Oil” became the first network series in 10 years to be shot in Utah. While Utah industry and government officials were hopeful for a long, successful run, the show lasted only 10 episodes last fall as viewership dwindled from 6.36 million viewers for its debut Sept. 27 to 3.13 million.

“We know that show was cancelled, but thankfully this board approved that project [for an incentive] and it was a great way to open the studio, to actually have the doors open and somebody waiting to come in,” Moore said. “After you open with that big client, you think every show is going to be like that for you, but it’s not, and we have to make do with other things in the meantime, until the next big show comes in, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”

The only other production to use the studios was “Wind River,” an independent feature drama starring Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen. It was there for three-and-a-half months.

However, the studio — with 91,000 square feet, including three 15,000-square-foot sound stages — has been used for other purposes. It served as a lounge site during the Sundance Film Festival, hosted a 1,000-person corporate concert featuring the band Lynyrd Skynyrd, and will accommodate a 10-day commercial shoot for a pharmaceutical company.

“So as people are coming to the studio, they’re starting to realize how diverse and useful this facility can be,” Moore said. “Our challenge is to fill it all the time.”