As Las Vegas becomes known more and more as an entertainment destination and not simply a gambling mecca, we can expect to see more moguls and would-be moguls looking for a piece of celluloid action in Sin City. Fortunately, one of the first is one of our own.
After years working his way up in the film business in Los Angeles, producer Trent Othick has come home to Vegas as president of Insomnia Entertainment, which bills itself as Nevada's first independent film company. Insomnia is announcing its arrival with two movies set to premiere this week at CineVegas.
The first, Standing Still, premiering June 16, is a Gen-Y Big Chill about college friends reuniting for a wedding several years after graduation. Its cast is full of well-known young actors, including former Dawson's Creek star James Van Der Beek, Mena Suvari (American Beauty) and Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes). The dramedy was shot in just three weeks, including a week in Vegas. Insomnia's other new release, Vegas Baby, "is just a romp," says an excited Othick, about five guys coming to town for a bachelor party. "The minute they show up, everything goes wrong."
If Othick is amped-up about Vegas Baby, you can scarcely blame him. After all, he's still working on the movie. He expects to have the print in his hand just one day before the movie screens. Plus, he's a sort of romp-movie kind of guy. He grew up on classics of the genre, his favorites including Animal House, Stripes and Fletch, as well as over-the-top horror flicks like Dawn of the Dead, which creeped him out so badly that he had to get up and walk into a 101 Dalmatians screening next door.
Othick says he always wanted to be "the first guy to get the new album or the first guy to see the new movie." He had thought about being a music producer, but by the time he finished college, he had changed his mind. Having worked as a law clerk for Oscar Goodman, he opted to study law, return to work for the future mayor and settle into the stable, prosperous life of an attorney.
But he lasted only one semester in law school before withdrawing. Too many teachers force-feeding him a fibrous diet of case law. Not enough creativity. When his father-in-law, a veteran TV producer, urged him to finish, Othick returned. Then he quit for good. "I did what he said, tried it again, then told him, 'You know what, this isn't working.'"
He needed a job in the entertainment biz. Anything to get in the door. He found work as a production assistant on a Tom Clancy miniseries. His commute was two hours, one way. He worked 16-hour days. "I did it three months and absolutely loved it."
Over the next several years, he soaked in the entertainment industry. He went to work for a music-video company run by Jesse Dylan, rocker Bob's son. "It was an eye-opening experience that got me on my way." He later put together a large and successful Internet film festival (before the dot-com meltdown, of course) and spent some time working in independent film. There he learned how movies get put together from scratch. "The beauty of film and television is you actually get to do everything," he said. "It's kind of the best of all worlds."
He launched Insomnia with partners including such local heavyweights as Stations Casinos President Lorenzo Fertitta and former Travelscape.com chiefs Tom Breitling and Tim Poster. The upstart company already wrapped its first movie last November and sold a show about the casino business. Next up is an action-drama that takes place in the world of ultimate fighters.
Las Vegas is making strides in the film business, but it still lacks the post-production facilities of LA.
So there Othick remains, with his wife and two young kids. But his heart remains with us. "My goal was always to come out to LA, learn the business, and move home. I think Vegas is the greatest city in the world."