One of Hollywood’s top actors now wants to contribute to the construction of “Hollywood 2.0” outside of southern California.
Mark Wahlberg visited lawmakers in Carson City, Nevada, this week to support the passage of a measure that would encourage the television and movie industries to build facilities in Las Vegas. Over a 20-year period, the plan would boost tax credits for movie production from $10 million to $190 million. A stronger film and entertainment sector in Las Vegas, according to Wahlberg, would diversify Nevada’s economy by reducing its reliance on the gaming sector, which suffered greatly during the government shutdown of 2020, and would also generate “thousands and thousands of newly developed jobs,” mostly for residents.
Wahlberg told CNBC, “I believe there’s so much more possibilities to be produced here. The potential for expansion is enormous. It’s a fantastic chance for everyone to succeed.”
Additionally, representatives from Sony Pictures as well as Howard Hughes Corp. testified before the lawmakers in support of the legislation, which would make it easier to build a pair of new production studios in Las Vegas: one in the city’s Summerlin neighborhood and the other one at the famous Las Vegas Media Campus, which is situated at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ technology park.
“Our employees as well as the future prosperity of Summerlin are inextricably connected to the Nevada economy,” said David O’Reilly, CEO of Howard Hughes. “It will be in everyone’s best interests if we can grow, diversify, and strengthen by bringing the film industry here.”
This week, Wahlberg, who turned 52, said that he had already accomplished it. The Californian ex-pat and native of Boston recently relocated his family to Las Vegas in order to provide his “kids a better life,” and he also took some of his business associates with him.
In his new homeland of Las Vegas, Wahlberg has committed to contribute his own “hard-earned dollars” to help build “Hollywood 2.0,” and he already has an excellent working relationship with the new governor of Nevada, Joe Lombardo (R). The former sheriff that turned governor, according to Wahlberg, “is truly seeking for possibilities to create jobs beyond gaming.” Wahlberg is unsure of whether the state’s lawmakers would support the plan, however. He said, “It’s gotta genuinely make sense for them. And we need to validate the model.”
