Studio clears hurdle

      Doris Keating said her Black Mountain Studios Inc. closed Friday on the $1.2 million purchase of 20 acres for the $40 million first phase of a film and television studio at Henderson.
      The city sold the real estate to Keating, because the project will boost the economic base, create jobs and increase tax revenues, said Vicki Taylor, Henderson's assistant city manager.
      "I think the term somebody is using is `Hollywood is coming to Henderson,' " Taylor said.
      Keating, a motion picture producer, said the studio is scheduled to open within 18 months at a site west of the Levi Strauss & Co. warehouse.
      Her husband, Barry Schlesinger, chairman of Heitman Properties of Chicago, is arranging financing for the first phase.
      The first phase will have probably three sound stages and 800,000 square feet of space, she said. It will feature 50,000 square feet of offices and warehouse space, 6,000 square feet of executive offices and 20,000 square feet for production support operations, such as makeup and hair dressing.
      It will have two back lots, one with a urban setting typical of New York or Chicago and another of a town square in a small community, she said.
      Community college students will be given on-the-job training for careers in the industry, such as theme park design and computer animation, at Black Mountain Studios, Keating said. She plans to rely on students from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to produce a situation comedy at the studio.
      The developer said she will actively market the facility to Hollywood producers with tours.
      Good weather, closeness to Hollywood and the low production costs will make it attractive to the entertainment industry, she said.
      "Everything in Hollywood is inflated," she said. "The unions are not flexible. Just the cost (of doing business) is not competitive."
      Other states with strong motion picture industries include North Carolina, Florida, Texas and Colorado.
      "People came here previously, because they needed to shoot on the Strip or maybe out in the desert," she said.
      Skeptics questioned whether the Las Vegas area studio could succeed. But Keating said she understands the entertainment business and has the "critical mass" necessary to prosper at Black Mountain.
      She has produced nine movies, most recently "Rugged Gold" and "Shadow of a Stranger."
      "Like a heat-seeking missile, I gave up everything to concentrate on the studio," she said.
      Sun State Bank, which was acquired by Nevada State Bank, provided some initial financing.
      As the studio's business grows, Keating intends to expand to a total of 85 acres at Wagon Wheel Industrial Park.
      She hopes to make an initial public offering of stock within three years.