From On line casino to Studio: A Native American Tribe Bets Huge on Hollywood

In 2018, the Tesuque Pueblo, a small Native American tribe primarily based exterior Santa Fe, New Mexico, was attempting to resolve what to do with their previous on line casino. The tribe had constructed a brand new, up to date gaming facility, and their financial growth board was contemplating changing their Fifties-era on line casino lot right into a water park, a ropes course or a glamping vacation spot. One other, nearly offhand suggestion the group entertained was opening a film studio.

New Mexico was rising as a manufacturing hotbed, luring movies and TV exhibits with a powerful tax incentive, deep crew base, sunny climate and brief flights to L.A. Netflix has dedicated to spending greater than $1 billion on manufacturing within the state and is increasing its studio in Albuquerque, and Common has pledged to spend $500 million. However along with the doable financial advantages for the Tesuque, the studio introduced the promise of one thing probably much more compelling — the possibility to have a hand in shaping the picture of Indigenous individuals onscreen.

“We will at the least be on the desk to assist information, to get away from the stereotypical Hollywood portrayal,” says Roman Duran, a member of the Tesuque Pueblo and the chair of the tribe’s advisory committee for the studio, which they named Camel Rock. “We could be, I suppose, an influencer is the terminology these days, and advocate for Native American illustration in any respect ranges.”

Earlier than the studio even formally obtained off the bottom, that they had a high-profile manufacturing of their house, Common’s 2020 Western Information of the World. That film, directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Tom Hanks, used the on line casino for prop storage, set building and manufacturing places of work, and constructed a tank within the car parking zone for a greenscreen sequence of a river crossing.

As a result of the Tesuque land is its personal nation, productions that shoot right here aren’t eligible for New Mexico’s tax incentives, however Camel Rock Studios shortly booked a long-term second tenant within the new AMC show Dark Winds, which constructed a backlot with a Navajo village, caves and a home for its lead character, Detective Joe Leaphorn. “What all people fell in love with was the truth that we have been in a position to shoot on tribal land,” says Chris Eyre, government producer and director of the present. “We’re placing cash right into a tribal economic system, diversifying their companies. If we’re going to make Native content material, let’s do it proper.”

This story first appeared within the June 1 situation of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.