Al Polito, owner and producer at Three Sticks Productions, Jenna Atwater, senior creative director at KPS3, Sarah Polito, vice president of client strategy at KPS3, and Lydia Beck, marketing and public relations manager with Visit Carson City, answer Dec. 10, 2024 during a screening of ‘A Winter’s Charm in Carson City’ at the Brewery Arts Center.
Photo by Jessica Garcia.
Nevada’s capital city stars in its own short holiday feature film “A Winter’s Charm in Carson City,” an ode to favorite small-town businesses and sights. It even gets its own credit at the end as “Itself.”
Local destination marketing organization Visit Carson City provided a viewing of its film Tuesday at the Brewery Arts Center as part of its campaign launch to bring regional awareness to the city and Lake Tahoe’s natural experiences and history.
VCC’s marketing and public relations manager Lydia Beck called the film “a love letter” to Carson and the region.
“(The movie) is the centerpiece of our strategic marketing campaign, our winter marketing campaign for Visit Carson City,” Beck said. “And so, we wanted to show Carson City in a way that we know is so true to its roots.”
“A Winter’s Charm” follows the romantic story of city-girl Claire, arriving on a business trip in pursuit of a land purchase and a promotion, who runs into Benn, a former flame hoping to save the same land site. While the film centers on the two characters with its side characters, Carson is really considered central to the plot. In a span of 15 minutes, the couple’s journey to discover, or rediscover, the city’s beauty with its shops, museums and landmarks along the Kit Carson Trail provides warmth and sass.
Mentions include the Fox Brewpub, the Governor’s Mansion and the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
Actual filming took place over four days this summer, although production went on longer, Beck said. Three Sticks Production, in collaboration with marketing film KPS3 and VCC, worked to market to their core audiences outside of Carson City to reach visitors from Lake Tahoe, California and beyond.
Members of the cast include Charlie Manoukian as Ben, Melody Ricketts as Claire, Mandy Williams as Danielle, David Gamble, Jr. as Nick and “Carson City.”
Beck said two shows Tuesday were offered and the VCC and KPS3 expected between 300 to 350 guests. Social media feedback also was very favorable, she said.
“The response from the community was just heartwarming,” she said. “We had to cap it. We ended up doing a second show for it, so we’re very excited.”
City representatives attending Tuesday’s first showing included Mayor Lori Bagwell and Supervisor Lisa Schuette.
“I think it's wonderful and we can come together even as the community to see a marketing piece and then understand and help share it, right?” Bagwell said. “I’m super excited today to get to see the movie and be able to see so many of our local businesses.”
Cindy Rowe of Northern Nevada Coin, which has a location at 601 N. Carson St., was excited to watch the film and said she supports local marketing efforts.
“Last year, they painted a mural on our building, and it was our 30th anniversary, so we had a big party and with the mural painting, it just coincided perfectly,” she said.
Carson City offers a small community for residents to enjoy activities and support commerce in the area with enough acclaim to attract interest from producers for recreation or other films. She recalled when actor Mario Lopez was seen filming in Carson for the movie “Feliz NaviDad” in June 2020.
Representatives from Three Sticks, KPS3 and VCC offered a question-and-answer period for guests to ask how the film was made after its showing, with audience members curious about its production successes, challenges, how sites were selected and the target demographic for marketing.
Al Polito, owner and producer at Three Sticks Productions, said offering a magical setting showcasing Northern Nevada’s snowy glory in the late summer months or early fall was one of the biggest difficulties of all. He said community members suggested many excellent locations for scenes and called Carson right for filming.
“The challenge that we had, honestly, with this was when we were filming this, it was still in just the flourish of all the fall colors in so many scenes, and I was like breaking my heart having to not show such a range with a bunch of amazing colors and just great vibrancy among the trees because it didn’t make sense for the time of year that we were campaigning here,” he said. “That speaks to me. I want to film in the fall a short film here. … This landscape’s just amazing here.”
Audience members were enthusiastic about a sequel to “A Winter’s Charm.”
Beck said the campaign will run through the end of March.
The film can be viewed at www.visitcarsoncity.com.