You can take the boy out of Reno, but
you can't take Reno out of the boy.
That's one reason that Matthew Lane
Kilburn returned to his hometown of
Reno after 10 years in Los Angeles to
create Gamma Universe, a media miniempire
and the only film production
company in the city.
A lot of Hollywood feature films do
location shoots in northern Nevada, but
most locally produced content consists of
TV commercials, industrial films and
some documentaries, mostly for local consumption.
Enter Kilburn, who in 1991
came back to Reno and started up a company
that, after a few name changes, has
evolved into Gamma Universe.
Kilburn is president/executive producer
of Gamma Universe, which comprises
Gamma Productions, for graphic design
and video production services; Gamma
Publishing, which has published one book
on auditioning and has two more industryrelated
titles in the pipeline; and Gamma
Films, the film production unit.
Gamma Film's first production was a
film called "The Harvesters," a thriller
about black-market organ harvesters based
on a true story and shot in Reno, Sparks,
and Pyramid Lake. The 1999 film has
been picked up for distribution by Lion's
Share Entertainment, said Kilburn, which
has yet to determine whether it will get a
theatrical release, a showing on TV or go
direct to video.
Gamma Films recently finished its second
production a two-hour TV pilot
called "Shadowlands." It's a science-fiction,
"Star Wars" type drama starring Gary
Busey and written, directed and produced
by Kilburn in Reno. Next month Kilburn
will be making a trip to Los Angeles to
talk to executives at Fox, Paramount, PAX
and other TV networks to negotiate a deal
to air "Shadowlands" and turn the production
into a series.
"We've been assured it will be picked
up," said Kilburn. "Now it's just a matter of
negotiating the best deal."
The best deal, in Kilburn's view, would
be to create a series and produce it in
Nevada. "Part of our charter is to provide
ongoing work for people who work here,"
said Kilburn. Two-thirds of the
"Shadowlands" cast, for example, was local
talent, in addition to some of the crew that
worked on the pilot. Another possibility is
that a studio would buy the idea and produce
a new pilot and series on its own, said
Kilburn, though he plans to hold out for
the locally based production if he can. The
pilot, which was shot in 24-frame, highdefinition
digital video format, like the latlatest
"Star Wars" installments, will premiere
at the Reno Film Festival on Nov. 3.
High-definition video is the latest technology,
and TV studios are clamoring for
content because networks have been mandated
to broadcast in HDTV within two
years. To shoot in high-definition video,
Kilburn rented a camera from Sony Corp.,
which along with George Lucas of Star
Wars fame developed the technology. He
did run into some technical problems and
had to return the camera to Los Angeles
for repairs. He also had to use a lot of outof-
state crew, such as camera operators and
lighting technicians, because there just isn't
a local talent pool to draw from, Kilburn
said. A more thriving local film industry
would have solved both those problems, he
said, but the area can't yet support those
ancillary businesses.
Eventually, Kilburn hopes to produce
three films a year at Gamma Films. Next
up is "Snowstorm," an action adventure
based on a just published novel written by
Mike Alger, the meteorologist for Reno's
CBS affiliate, Channel 2. That film will be
somewhat of a step up for Gamma. The
budget will likely be about $20 million,
said Kilburn, and the money provided by a
studio. So far Kilburn and investors,
some local have funded Gamma.
(Kilburn isn't complaining, though, since
he expects something like a 10-fold return
on his investment in "Shadowlands,"
which he financed entirely himself.) The
company is also in negotiations with
"Friends" star Matthew Perry for a
romantic comedy, and working on another
film that Kilburn describes as a
"Clancy-esque thriller."
Kilburn has many ambitions. He started
a performing arts school, called Model
Talent Universe, to produce more local talent.
The school taught 300 students in its
first year. He also started a non-profit
called Renowood.org to foster the local
film community.Next year he plans to start
a film production school. Gamma Universe
is already closely aligned with two other
businesses: Integrity Casting, a casting
agency with offices in Reno and Silicon
Valley, and Daniel Herron Photo, a still
photography studio. All of that Gamma
Universe plus the affiliated businesses
are located in a 5,000-square-foot space in
Reno. The company will move to a larger
space, though, if it gets the deal to produce
the "Shadowlands" series.
Next January, Gamma will host a talent
contest that will be televised regionally
by a major network. Finally, Kilburn
has plans to build a sound stage somewhere
in northern Nevada within the
next five years. It probably wouldn't be
located in Reno or Sparks, due to the cost
of real estate, but may go in Fernley or a
similar location, said Kilburn. Gamma
had to film "Shadowlands" in a 10,000-
square-foot warehouse in Sparks, which
may look like a sound stage but isn't
soundproofed like one. As a result,
Gamma has had to redo all the dialogue
from the TV movie, which adds time and
cost to the production.
The sound stage could be a big boon to
production here. And that's part of
Kilburn's plan. In addition to growing
Gamma, he hopes to cultivate the film
industry in northern Nevada. "I love this
area," said Kilburn. "It's my hometown
and I'm committed to growing the business
here.
