HELENA, Mont. — Upstate New York is a long way to go to produce a pilot episode for a new television series set in Wyoming. But that’s what Sheridan-based Story House Pictures did last summer and fall because New York offered the production company a tax incentive.
Sean Higgins, who was part of a task force that tried unsuccessfully to revive Wyoming’s tax incentive programfor the film industry, is now looking just up the road from Sheridan to Montana for future productions.
On Tuesday, Higgins and his brother Danny joined about 80 Montana filmmakers in Helena for a meet-and-greet informational session at the Holter Art Museum.
The event was sponsored by the Montana Media Coalition, and for the last few years Sean Higgins, a University of Wyoming theater grad, has served on the Coalition’s board.
After the task force in Wyoming failed in 2023 to convince the Wyoming Legislature to pass House Bill 92, Higgins focused on getting tax incentive legislation passed in Montana, and he is now lobbying lawmakers in Helena.
With a crowd of film industry professionals and legislators mingling around him, Higgins told Cowboy State Daily his company hopes to build a production facility in Montana with the support of tax incentives.
“We’ve been looking at different properties and we plan to make an investment in the state of Montana, depending on how the Montana legislation goes,” said Higgins, who as an actor is best known for his work as a company member of the New York City immersive show “Sleep No More” and the NBC series "The Blacklist."
The project Story House Pictures shot in New York is titled “Milkshake Time Machine,” and it’s written by Ginger Kearns.
“We worked together for a number of years,” said Higgins, who compared Kearns to Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator of the Amazon original series “Fleabag.”
“(Kearns) has been a finalist in the Austin Film Festival a couple times with different scripts and really, really talented,” he said.
“Milkshake Time Machine” is a relatively small project, but Higgins said that unlike Wyoming, states like New York and Montana are actively working to attract all kinds of productions with tax incentives.
Movie Manufacturing
Higgins said that when considering the United States and its territories, Wyoming ranks 51st in overall film production.
“Montana is 41st. There's a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “But Montana has a working incentive. The proof is in the pudding. They've done really well with ‘Yellowstone.’”
At the Tuesday night event in Helena, state Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, took the stage and asked the crowd, “How did we get ‘Yellowstone?’ Utah dropped their tax credit and they came to Montana.”
As a general rule, said Hertz, “I don't like tax credits.”
But over time, other legislators, “Educated me about movie manufacturing and as I looked at it, what you needed to do to be competitive in the movie making business, you need to have a tax credit because that's what everybody else does across the United States,” Hertz said. “So without that, we can't move forward.”
Hertz is sponsoring the MEDIA Act, which stands for Montana Economic Development Industry Advancement. Supporters of the bill want to see Montana raise its tax credit program from $12 million a year to at least $30 million a year, and thereby continue to attract enough productions to keep the state’s 1,300 or so film professionals employed.
Lynn-Wood Fields, president of the Montana Media Coalition, followed Hertz on stage.
“The way the credit works right now is it's first come, first served,” Fields said. “So, we have a plan to reserve 60% moving forward for Montana Productions, and I really want to emphasize the people who are leading this bill are Montana filmmakers.”
Also Wyoming filmmakers like Higgins who are looking to set up shop in Montana.
During the presentation, Higgins chimed in when discussion turned to building what’s recognized under the proposed MEDIA Act as “qualified facilities” eligible for receiving future tax credits.
Higgins didn’t share specifics about his company’s plans for building a production space in Montana, but speaking to a crowd of more than 100 Tuesday night, he made a pitch for building a qualified facility.
“A qualified facility has a minimum investment of $10 million in brick-and-mortar infrastructure into the state,” said Higgins. “That's going to incur property taxes, which flows back to those counties.”
Higgins also explained how Montana benefits even when Montana production companies work out of state.
“So, if Story House Pictures, for instance, domiciled in the state of Montana, and we go and film in Georgia, the revenues from our project that we filmed in Georgia still hit the bottom line in this corporate state tax in the state of Montana and return to the general fund,” said Higgins. “That would be the first time we have something like that in Montana at that scale.”
‘We Are Wyoming Boys’
One bright spot held out by the filmmakers gathered in Helena on Tuesday was the story of the Yellowstone Film Ranch.
“We've hired more than 1,400 people. We've spent almost $40 million in the last four years,” said Richard Gray, co-founder and director at Yellowstone Film Ranch.
The facility offers an Old West town built to accommodate film production that’s near Chico Hot Springs south of Livingston, Montana.
“Unholy Trinity,” a Western starring Sameul L. Jackson and Pierce Brosnan, was shot at the Yellowstone Film Ranch in 2023 and premiered in October.
While the well-known stars attract the most attention, those working to promote filmmaking as an industry in Wyoming and Montana try to steer the conversation back to all the skilled labor required to build movie sets.
In the words of Hertz, these are the jobs that keep the business of “movie manufacturing” alive and well.
“I just really hope that this ripples forward, and we can talk about the work-boot jobs there,” said Higgins after the presentation Tuesday night. “The workforce is skilled laborers, blue-collar, electricians, carpenters, costume folks, welders, you name it, those are all on set.”
In 2023, Higgins tried unsuccessfully to make this same pitch to the Wyoming Legislature.
“What we're talking about here tonight is how do we grow that sector, how do we grow it in a sustainable way for the state of Montana?” he said. “How do we entice companies like ours to make a brick-and-mortar infrastructure investment in the state, which is a multimillion-dollar investment?
“For us to feel comfortable making that level of investment, we want to know that the state is going to be with us walking forward. And so we are thrilled at how the business recruitment of Montana has worked. They really rolled out a red carpet for us. And they understand that we're a grassroots organization. We are Wyoming boys.”
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
