Visit Casper Launching a Film Office to Attract Tourism
In an effort to help promote film projects in Wyoming, Visit Casper has launched an initiative called Film Casper, according to a press release.
The office works with filmmakers, production teams, and local partners to bring projects to fruition and help them film in Natrona County.
Kelly Eastes, the Film Casper Liaison, said the program is aiming to get people to sign up as potential crew members or provide property for filming.
"We're trying to just build a database of all the potential locations of the community now, and the Natrona County area," Eastes said. "So that's why this press release came out is to have people who want to have their business potentially used for the industry folks, and I mean there's a place for vendors and there's also a place for locations."
The reason they're starting Film Casper now Eastes said is due in part to the pandemic, which caused filmakers to travel less to other countries to film.
"The thing that really pushed it was the pandemic strangely enough, because when the film crew couldn't travel, and sometimes they shoot in Canada, they shoot where things are the cheapest...But, when the pandemic hit and people couldn't travel as much, they started shooting much more in the domestic arena's if you will, and they started producing a lot more streaming programs and things like that," Eastes said. "So there's lots of television shows being produced now and that's what we really wanted to start capturing. We can provide an area where they wouldn't have a lot contact with people so they can be free of any coronavirus issues, and we have all the resources for them, we have a wide variety of locations."
Since Film Casper has put up their directory in December, they've gotten around 70 people to sign up before they officially launched on Monday.
Various film projects have taken place in Casper including Starship Troopers, Hellfighters, and Street Outlaws, along with commercials for Wells Fargo, Lady Marlboro, Marlboro Classic Clothing Catalog, and Toyota Trucks.
Eastes said that having a film or TV show shot in Casper helps to boost tourism by showcasing the local area and draws more people to the county.
"The thing that's really cool about this industry is that when they produce something that comes out of here positively it basically acts as an ad for us that we got paid for them to build," Eastes said. "They make a commercial or a TV show or shoot a still photo of one of our locations, and it goes out there to the world, it's basically an advertisement for us to help with the tourism industry."
Film Casper is planning on working with Paramount and Disney for future projects, but Eastes said he couldn't share any details about those projects at this time.