Infamous for green Jell-o, fry sauce, great skiing and Mormons, few people realize the secret talent Utah holds. During the Sundance Film Festival people begin to realize Utah has much more to offer, especially in the film industry.
When talking about movies filmed in Utah, most people of think of “High School Musical” and the old westerns. With Sundance the talent in Utah just keeps growing. Warren Workman is the host of a new series called “Filmed in Utah.” In the series Workman takes the audience on a tour, in front of the camera and behind the scenes of Utah’s film and television. He also talks to local directors, actors and producers to give audiences a deeper look into the Utah film and television industry.
Workman believes Utah has much potential but is struggling to fulfill it.
“I think the biggest problem is that we have a lot of fantastic talent here, arguably better than we have in L.A., yet we have no medium to utilize it on,” Workman said.
Recently there has been a rising industry among teenagers and college students in making and editing film. Workman’s show helps provide resources on the how-to of the business. For people who want to get into this industry, there is no better place to learn that at the Sundance Film Festival, where Workman will be for the rest of the week.
Workman believes Sundance is great for networking and getting work out into the industry.
“It’s not just networking with people who say your films are great,” Workman said. “It’s [networking] with people who can fund, distribute and market your films, and the people with those connections are at Sundance.”
Many movies are filmed in Utah, and students seem to have positive opinions about the film industry here. Duncan Rawlings is studying media art studies at BYU and believes there are many opportunities in Utah, especially on the financial end.
“Utah is a very interesting place for a film industry because there are a lot of really good locations and you can shoot cheaper here,” Rawlings said. “The Utah Film Comission gives a huge tax incentive and there are a lot of great talented people to use on the crew and location.”
Kenny Baldwin, 22, is a production assistant at BYU-TV and says it is easy to see why people choose Utah as a place to shoot.
“Utah is being chosen as a place for film because of its natural resources and it’s easy here,” Baldwin said. “There aren”t a billion regulations like there are in California.”
