We are accustomed to seeing Academy Award-winning directors and big-name actors in the vicinity. But now, it’s our natural beauty, high-quality production facilities, skilled personnel, and well-designed inducements that have Hollywood buzzing about Utah’s growing La La Land clout.

Shooting recently wrapped in Park City on the Steve Carell HBO feature “Mountainhead,” directed by “Succession” creator Jesse Armstrong, who raved about how our gorgeous setting and Mountainkind charm. 

He’s right about that, but there is more to it.

“Mountainhead’s” almost $10 million spend in Park City and Summit County was incentivized by $2 million from the state Rural Utah Film Incentive Fund, approved by state Board of Tourism Development, a 15-member governor-appointed panel upon which I’m honored to serve.

The Rural Incentive fund was created in 2022 as a $12 million adjunct to the 2011 Motion Picture Incentive Program to encourage rural film projects, and it has more recovered its cost. The Utah Film Commission says that in the fund’s first two years, filmmakers spent an astounding $160 million in Summit, Wasatch and eight other rural counties.  

Under the Park City Chamber’s own film incentive program, “Mountainhead’s” producers were eligible for a 2 percent rebate on their estimated $800,000 hotel costs.

Incentives like these have helped Utah attract $630 million in film industry spending ($268 million to rural areas) in the past decade, creating more than 38,000 film-related jobs on 258 incentivized projects. A 2022 study found that for every dollar the funds invest, $7 return to Utah’s economy through production-related spending.

The Board of Tourism Development recently approved incentives for five new productions whose $12.6 million impact includes more than 400 new film-related jobs locally and in Grand, Salt Lake and San Juan counties. “Wild Horse Nine” is the headliner, directed by Academy award-winner Martin McDonagh and starring, among others, Parker Posey, Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, and Tom Waits.

Park City is in the game, too. The chamber’s Park City Film Office connects productions with the accommodations, permits, location access, talent and technical crews they need. For example, producers love Utah Film Studios on Kearns Boulevard, the state’s largest and most technologically advanced facility. The 45,000 square feet of sound stages meet the industry’s exacting technical standards, while their 25,000 square feet of offices, changing rooms, break rooms, and a hair/makeup suite are essential supporting resources.

Film tourism is another major player, pouring an estimated $6 billion into Utah in the last decade. (Think of tours in London or LA where you see famous scene locations or when a film’s landscapes motivate you to visit; that’s film tourism.)

To boost this important sector, the Film Commission recently launched the Utah Film Trail with the Utah Office of Tourism, which will mark 20 iconic spots (Park City and Heber included) from films like “Thelma and Louise.” 

You can join the action by offering your place as a location for film or commercial shoots. Go to visitparkcity.com/film to register with the state’s film location database, regularly perused by producers. There is no charge. If you are contacted, you are not obligated to say yes.

The clean, arty, well-funded film industry perfectly fits our lifestyle, environmental awareness and job development strategies. But it’s fiercely competitive; Utah’s incentive programs go up against more than 30 other states offering similar programs.

In 2024, we celebrated 100 years of hosting Hollywood in Utah. I’m excited that Park City is part of a new century of cinematic growth, sharing our immense landscapes and talented people with the brilliant artists who tell our stories.