Studio 702 helps bring together Hollywood and Nevada

One-stop shopping. You do it at the grocery store. You do it at the mall. Now anyone in television, advertising or the movie industry can one-stop shop in Las Vegas. They need only to head to Studio 702.

With the opening of the 50,000-square-foot facility, new avenues for the entertainment industry has presented themselves. A Las Vegas location shoot takes on a whole new meaning because producers can come to town with a script, a few actors and that's it. Studio 702 is equipped to provide everything else, from sets to postproduction.

Two partners opened the studio in August 2000, but their plans to build it into a success failed. Over a period of six months, several groups tried to revive the venture, but, as the studio's press kit gently explains, "only tapped the surface."

It wasn't until Darrell Eubanks, 41, got involved that the studio really took off. He is president and chief executive officer of the main venture. He also owns more than half a dozen offshoot companies that provide various aspects like audio, casting and postproduction. He even set up an in-house catering company. It is this total approach that is putting the studio back on track.

"Were bringing Hollywood to Nevada," Eubanks said.

The facility includes a cavernous, fully functional, soundproof sound stage -- the only one in Nevada. At nearly 18,000 square feet, it can accommodate oversized productions with ease. Elephant doors lead directly to the workshop where sets are made and props are stored.

Studio 702 already has high-profile projects under its belt. It made the Burger King commercial with B.B. King, shot a Schick razor spot with Andre Agassi and did work for Red Lobster and Blue Cross of California.

Right now, it's in negotiations to do a major motion picture. The details are hush-hush.

Music videos, state and federal public service announcements and documentaries will also be done there. But the biggie that would bring in constant revenue is the mid- to late-March launch of a television show called "Las Vegas Tonight."

Former Los Angeles newsman Mario Machado will be the host and the show will have a live band and be shot before a live audience. Staffers said they hope it will be picked up for syndication.

The studio, its $2 million build-out and support companies are a far cry from Eubank's beginnings. He was born in Ohio and moved to Southern California at 7. It was about that time his father, a singer on the Isaac Hayes label who also worked in set construction, died.

Eubanks and his mother didn't exactly live in poverty, but living paycheck to paycheck left little for the nice things in life.

But the few times Eubanks got to tag after his dad as he working on production sets must have made an impression on his young mind.

After high school, he attended the Southern California Institute of Architecture. But there was still the tug of the entertainment industry he'd glimpsed with his father. Eubanks snuck into set-building classes at USC and UCLA.

His friends were in film school and needed help with sets, so Eubanks lent a hand, designing and building the sets. He got a job with Nadel Shapiro, whom he credits as his mentor, but still kept doing free-lance work with his film buddies.

When California's economy soured, Eubanks came to Las Vegas. He worked in conjunction with several local architectural firms like Paul Steelman, Joel Bergman and Charles Silverman. For the next 10 years, he worked "on every hotel on the Strip" to make their themes come alive through what he viewed as a set design.

Now he's set on making Studio 702 a success.

Eubanks is married with two children. He and his family live in Green Valley.

He said Studio 702 will bring more productions to Las Vegas.

"If you can visualize it, you can achieve it," he said.


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