Lights, Camera, ACTION
Lights, Camera, ACTION
INSOMNIA Entertainment, based out of Las Vegas, was formed in October of last year to develop, produce and finance feature film and television projects.
The company is already at work on its first feature film, Standing Still, a coming of age movie about a group of friends who reconnect at a wedding years after graduating college. The project has recruited several well-known stars to round out its cast including James Van Der Beek (Varsity Blues), Mena Suvari (American Pie, American Beauty) Estella Warren (Driven, Kangaroo Jack) and Jon Abrahams (Outside Providence, Meet the Parents).
Other future projects include Yonkers Joe, the story of an aging card shark and dice hustler who tries to bond with his mentally challenged son as he searches for the perfect scam; Doyle, based on the life of professional gambler and poker player Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson; and movies based on The Ultimate Fighting Championship (which Fertitta owns) and the disappearance and death of NBA star Brian Williams.
Las Vegas has regularly been featured in cinema and on television shows. City officials have tried for years to lure film companies to set up studios in Nevada in hopes it would provide needed revenue boosts.
INSOMNIA executives say Las Vegas is poised for growth in the film industry and cite it as a reason for creating the company.
"We've all known for years that there's a mystique about Las Vegas that captivates almost everyone," Othick says. "While in Los Angeles, I noticed the interest Hollywood has in the old Las Vegas stories as well as their interest in the new youth movement going on today. I also saw that Vegas, with that youth movement, was gaining interest in Hollywood. It seemed a marriage between the two cities for this type of venture made sense, because that relationship already existed and has been in place since the early days of Las Vegas."
Othick says he approached friends he knew that would help make his idea of a Las Vegas-based film and production company become a reality.
News releases on the venture have indicated that INSOMNIA has a full team of writers, directors, production and support staffs, and that it plans on investing "millions of dollars in development and financing of projects to be produced in, and primarily about Las Vegas."
Plans are for INSOMNIA to release six to 10 feature films in the next four years.
