Hollywood Tucson? Downtown group trying to lure production companies

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TUCSON (KVOA) – A $ 500,000 reserve fund was set up by the Rio Nuevo group, focused on revitalizing downtown Tucson, to create an entertainment fund focused on bringing television and film productions to Tucson Curls.

According to a Rio Nuevo board member, one television series looks like it’s coming to town already, and another broadcaster is considering Tucson as a place to film a series finale.

“By filming here it brings hotel rooms, it brings millions of dollars into our economy. One of the TV shows we talk to literally booked over 40,000 hotel nights which is fantastic for our economy, ”said Edmund Marquez, Rio Nuevo board member.

The new President of Independent Film Arizona (IFA), Elisa Cota-Francis, is a film industry veteran with over 20 years of experience.

She says the need for content has grown dramatically as streaming services for different networks and platforms have grown in popularity, and Tucson can help meet that need.

“Arizona has always been an extremely great place because we have hundreds of well-trained people working in the industry,” said Cota-Francis.

Rio Nuevo says that introducing large-scale productions would have a huge economic impact.

“Your budget is over $ 50 million and these incentives are being used to bring this big economic boost here to Tucson,” said Marquez.

The Tucson film industry also brings a full production team to the table, according to IFA, another reason that could make filmmakers choose the Old Pueblo.

“They have it all here, they get ‘oh my god’ for a small price, even if I got film incentives in another state the cost of filming would be lower here,” said Cota-Francis.

She adds that manufacturing has been buzzing in Arizona since the summer, and these latest incentives could bring more to the state.

Details of who might come to Tucson are not yet announced, but Rio Nuevo is confident that this investment will pay off.

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