BYU NewsNet - Sky of Dreams Ranch to Open in St. George

Imagine a place in southern Utah where you can ride dolphins, watch sea turtles swim and possibly run into a movie star.

The Sky of Dreams Ranch, a project under way in St. George, will provide these experiences and more. Its purposes include: a learning campus for screen writers and crew technicians, a life healing and discovery center, a Native American Heritage Center, five-star accommodations and residences on the periphery, as well as state-of-the-art filmmaking facilities - including the first 360-degree green room.

The ranch's unique green technology makes it a wonderful destination for the eco-friendly hoping to settle there and it is expected to attract tourists and filmmakers from all over.

The place's green technology includes alternatives to plastic water bottles and recycled water used in the salt water and fresh water habitats. There will even be some areas of the ranch where cars will be prohibited. These and other measures will be taken to ensure the eco-friendly nature of the ranch.

Craig Clyde, a Utah-resident screenwriter who is heavily involved in development of the ranch, as well as the first film to be shot there, said the ranch's educational and environmentally-friendly purposes are very unique and important to our generation.

"We're investing in our children - the next generation," Clyde said.

Time is money in the movie business, and Clyde said that with costs of up to a million dollars an hour for such films as "The Lord of the Rings," every minute counts and losing any time to poor weather is a risk that not many filmmakers are willing to take.

Filming in St. George would allow for approximately 11 months of filming weather, Clyde said. Film costs are also much lower in Utah in comparison to Los Angeles. In "The Best Two Years," for example, a week of exterior shots were filmed in Holland, and the rest of the filming of the interior shots took place in Alpine.

Joseph Wilson, a multi-media specialist and student at BYU, has filmed projects for BYUSA and has participated in many BYU film productions. Wilson agrees with Clyde that opening the filmmaking market in Utah is a wise decision.

"Utah is a good place to produce films," Wilson said. "There are talented people and it's very scenic."

The first movie planned to be filmed at the Sky of Dreams Ranch is "The Mystical World of Nebe," an adaptation of the children's book trilogy.

Clyde was asked to adapt the trilogy into a film and has transformed the 300+-page first book into an approximately 100-page screenplay. The story is about 10-year-old Jonathan Parker who loves animals. He is visited by a white wolf and is told by the wolf of the potential he has, and the film will show just how much Jonathan's dreams will become a reality to him with the help of the 360- degree green room.

Clyde believes this is a wonderful first film to be shot at the Sky of Dreams Ranch because it has the message that dreams become reality, which will match the dream-like setting of the ranch.