The Park County Travel Council in Northwest Wyoming has created a film office to try and attract more movies, TV shows, documentaries, and other types of projects to the area.
Ryan Hauck is the council’s executive director. He says one of the goals of the Cody Yellowstone film office is to generate more business in the Cody area during the off season.
“This is another leg of tourism that we can really use to create some serious economic impact for our area. If we get major motion pictures, we’re talking millions and millions of dollars of spend in our county, which is kind of the reason that we exist is to bring stuff in like that,” he said.
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Kelly Eastes was tapped to run the office. When the office receives inquiries, he says he can help in a variety of ways including finding local talent to hire, negotiating hotel rooms for film crews, and assisting with permitting.
Eastes also will help crews find locations for filming their projects in the areas in and around Cody.
“There’s an incredible array of vast landscape differences. There’s badlands; there’s wild mountains; there’s prairie; there’s all kinds of looks you may want to attain that we have available in Park County,” he said.
The office does not currently offer any financial incentives for movie-makers nor does the state of Wyoming, but Eastes hopes the newly formed film office’s logistical resources will help make Park County more attractive to the industry.
The film office is getting its funding from a Wyoming Office of Tourism program geared towards developing tourism in local communities.
