Warner Bros. pledges massive Nevada expansion if lawmakers expand film tax credit

Warner Bros. Discovery is pledging a massive expansion into Southern Nevada that would see the media conglomerate commit half a billion dollars annually toward productions as part of a film studio partnership with UNLV and Birtcher Development — contingent on state lawmakers approving a massive expansion of the state’s film tax credit program next year.

Warner Bros. Studios Chief Operating Officer Simon Robinson on Tuesday promised that the publicly traded media company would commit to a minimum of $500 million in annual content spending during the next 17 years — the length of time proposed by one of the legislative efforts to expand the state’s tax credit — totaling $8.5 billion.

“The important thing for us is the ability to effectively become a producer with our own site in and around Las Vegas,” Robinson told The Nevada Independent in a Monday interview. “We’re committed to both the bill and the state. We’re going to be around a long time. Hopefully, they can make this happen.”

The announcement comes about a month and a half after Assembly Majority Leader Sandra Jauregui (D-Las Vegas) announced she would introduce similar legislation to establish a Las Vegas-based production studio and workforce training program in partnership with Sony Pictures, another one of the country’s “Big Five” major film studios, and developer Howard Hughes Corp.

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