During the inaugural Creative Coalition National Arts Advocacy Summit at Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas, Howard Hughes Holdings CEO David OReilly shared that the Nevada legislature could hear a bill as soon as Monday, Feb. 17 that would open the doorfor film tax credits to make the real estate developers Summerlin Studios project withSony Pictures a reality.

Nevada Assembly Bill 238, dubbed the Hollywood 2.0 bill, proposes to give Summerlin Studios $80 million a year in tax credits, starting in 2028 and ending in 2043 (with an additional $25 million set aside for independent productions). The studios would have to spend at least $400 million in Nevada, 50 percent of photography/filming must take place in Nevada, and the film must be finished within 18 months to qualify for the tax credits. Currently, the tax credit is $10 million. Theyre introducing the bill in the assembly, and well have the opportunity to get this over the goal line, says OReilly. The proposed $1.8 billion project between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Howard Hughes Holdings in Summerlin South at Flamingo Road and Town Center Drive would feature 13 buildings, including sound stages, production facilities and mixed-use space. Related Video

Howard Hughes Holdings joined other industry stakeholders, C-suite executives, policymakers, actors, musicians, media personalities, senior entertainment executives and artists for the invite-only summit on Feb. 12 and 13. With roundtables and panels, the leaders strategized on how to advocate for the future of the arts, developing a policy roadmap for arts funding that The Creative Coalition will present on Capitol Hill and to the White House in April. Howard Hughes OReilly, along with Paramount Global senior vp Rob ONeill, executive producer Jessica Sharzer (American Horror Story), actor and president of The Creative Coalition Tim Daly (Madam Secretary), LeVar Burton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Harry Hamlin (80 for Brady), Amazons head of communications strategy Sallie Schoneboom, actor Richard Kind (Only Murders in the Building), executive producer Bill Prady (Big Bang Theory) and The Hollywood Reporter co-editor-in-chief Maer Roshan, were all in attendance. (THR is the official media partner of the summit.)

OReilly tells The Hollywood Reporter that AB 238 differs from other filming tax credit bills presented in Nevada and other states. Howard Hughes Holdings and Sony will pay out of pocket to build the physical infrastructure. Before any tax credits are given, Sony must complete a film using 50 percent below-the-line local employees and spend $100 million on film production for 10 years.

A previous film tax credit structure passed in Nevada eight years ago was poorly structured, OReilly says, and only translated into some cameos on the Strip, while most filming happened in other states.

This is not a handout to help with the physical construction of the studios themselves. Were coming out of pocket 100 percent. Its a show me bill not a trust me bill well put the money in the dirt, says OReilly. The tax credit is earned after thousands of jobs and economic development have come from the construction and filming. We have a deep belief in its viability. We will show everybody here, all the residents of Nevada, the economic diversity and growth that can comefrom this.

Sony will spend $100 million a year for 10 years, and 50 percent of the below-the-line workers must be local, OReilly says: To ensure that [we] can accomplish that, Im investing $8 million to build a vocational training school to train grips, lighting electricians and carpenters. He estimates that the studio would create 17,000 permanent jobs with an average income of $113,000 and an annual economic impact of $2.8 billion.

The purpose is to drive economic diversity in Las Vegas, traditionally a single-industry town: hospitality.

We have Sony and other production companies that want to be here. Theyre going to create high-paying jobs. This is an opportunity to grow and diversify this economy, he says. The production workforce is synergistic with the labor pool already in Las Vegas because of the construction, trade show and entertainment sectors.

Mark Wahlberg, who moved to Las Vegas about two-and-a-half years ago, had the idea for all of this. OReilly read an interview in which Wahlberg said he wanted to build a studio and start filming in Las Vegas.

I set up a meeting and met with him two days later. I pitched him on building it at that site down the street from The Summit, where he lives. He called me back after the meeting and asked if I could come back on Monday, and then he introduced me to Tony Vinciquerra, the now-former CEO of Sony Pictures, OReilly says.

The bill was supposed to be read on Thursday, Feb. 13, but due to a snowstorm in Carson City, it will most likely be heard on Monday.

If the bill passes, the shovels will go in the ground the next day, promises OReilly.