Coming soon to a network near you: Sheriff-in-Chief Joe Lombardo starring in The Electric Horse Trader.

Watch as he gallops into a special legislative session and rides herd over a foundering film tax credit proposal. See him lasso major movie studios in a development plan that rivals the creation of Hollywood itself. Thrill to the passel of new jobs created. Then wave as he rides off into the sunset with the Silver State basking in a whole new spotlight — just in time for the 2026 election.

“The goal will be to finish what the Legislature left unfinished — plain and simple,” he says, like a cryptic Gary Cooper.

Is it me, pardner, or are them fighting words?

We’ll find out at a time not yet certain when Lombardo fulfills his promise to call a special session to push the film tax credit proposal through the process and onto his veto-piled desk for the signing ceremony. But he’s certainly not alone in his passion for cinema — or political theater, for that matter.

As The Nevada Independent reported this week, a PAC funded with $1 million by a coalition of building trades unions headed by the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters and Laborers International Union of North America Local 872 is preparing to spend big to shape public and legislative opinion to pave the way for the film tax legislation that fizzled in the last session. Although the unions’ effort will fly under the banner of a public information campaign, I suspect it will feel a lot like political arm-twisting by the time lawmakers reach Carson City.

In June, the $1.4 billion tax incentive package supported by Sony Pictures and Warner Bros., AB238, flickered and took a pratfall in the final hours of the Legislature. Now only Lombardo can save it (before the 2027 session, at least). And that, by all appearances, is precisely what he has planned. It’s a script rewrite with a twist — Lombardo’s bid for re-election at a time when Nevadans being crushed under the weight of the state’s tumultuous economy can use some tax relief themselves.

Who knows, maybe they can be extras in the remake of Leaving Las Vegas.

Here's the kicker, fans of the deal enthuse. It’s not about — once again — fanning the favor of multibillion-dollar corporations that have thrived without tax handouts. It’s really about construction jobs, expanding the economic base and embracing the future of entertainment.

You know? It just might work again. 

Skeptics who keep track of such things differ with the rah-rah crowd. They remind those dizzied by the prospect of celebrity sightings that the lofty promises linked to tax handouts historically have a short shelf life and can have unintended — but often predictable — consequences. 

In his not-so-subtly titled book, The Billionaire Boondoggle: How Our Politicians Let Corporations Steal Our Money and Jobs, journalist and author Pat Garofalo breaks down many of the really good deals companies and developers have received at the expense of lowly taxpayers. He joins Field of Schemes authors Neil deMause and Joanna Cagan in the chorus of critics who call out the bad math and overhyping of such tax breaks, whether they are part of stadium construction or other developments that overpromise and underperform.

But $1 million worth of public opinion-shaping and a few well-timed appearances by Hollywood elites just might put this one over the top at a remarkably fortuitous time for Lombardo and others who get their tickets early.

Skeptics and others likely to be told to silence their cell phones (and their criticism) might remind fans and paparazzi that there’s an array of other unfinished business in Nevada. Although unlikely to cause a celebrity sighting, some consider that business no less important to the state’s health.

That includes those getting health insurance through Nevada Health Link, which is expecting a 26 percent increase in premiums in the coming year thanks to the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

It also includes a crime bill, SB457, that would have branded former Sheriff Lombardo‘s tough-on-crime identity on the law books, increasing penalties for repeat offenders and lowering the bar for fentanyl-related felonies.

A successful special session could help burnish Lombardo’s image as a governor who wants to “get shit done.” His announced Democratic opponents, including Attorney General Aaron Ford and Washoe County Commission Chair Alexis Hill, can only stand on the sidelines and send press releases. Or perhaps Ford will come up with some ideas of his own as he faces possibly being on the wrong side of a labor’s full-court press for the studio legislation.

Its promoters call it a blockbuster — or is that budget-buster? Only time will tell. Now is the moment to sell, sell, sell the star-struck special session.

And if it falls short of producing its projected employment panacea and fails to create the game-changing tourist attraction its boosters all but promise?

Take heart, movie fans. By then, most of us will be too old to remember those responsible for — once again — handing enormous tax benefits to wealthy developers in a state riddled with more pressing quality-of-life concerns. What will we title that movie?

On Golden Ponzi has a certain ring to it.

John L. Smith is an author and longtime columnist. He was born in Henderson and his family’s Nevada roots go back to the 1860s. His stories have appeared in New Lines, Time, Reader’s Digest, Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, Reuters and Desert Companion, among others.