By Jeanne Wolf, Photographs: Francis George

rent Othick isn't exactly surprised that he has become a movie producer. "Ever since I saw Star Wars when I was five years old, I knew I wanted to make films," he told me. "I always had a video camera with me, whether it was to tape my brother's basketball game or his golf swing or a big party."

But Othick's journey to his first credit was a bit circuitous compared with those kids who major in film at USC and UCLA and head straight for any job they can get at a Hollywood studio. Growing up in Vegas, Othick was first a star at the poker tables, until his father found out and suggested he should think about getting a real job. It took him a while to get this parental message, however, because he then went on to be a popular party DJ and musicvideo producer, staying at the center of the action at lots and lots of Sin City soirees.

Some more prodding from Dad finally got Othick to law school (for one semester), but he wasn't about to become "my son, the lawyer." Who knew that while clerking for Oscar Goodman, the mayor of Las Vegas, and his law partner, David Chesnoff, he'd get his first real taste of the lure of Tinseltown? He remembers being starstruck when Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese were filming Casino and came in to talk to Goodman and Chesnoff for research. "They made everything seem real," he says.

Yet Othick resisted the call of the big screen long enough to enroll in the management-training program at Mirage Resorts, with the hope of getting to work with Steve Wynn. While his knowledge of the business side of Vegas now comes in handy, he admits that he really got excited when they were shooting movies such as Vegas Vacation at the Mirage. Finally, Othick got into the business that he dreamed about as a kid: He took some development positions at production companies and worked with Jesse Dylan to produce the Yahoo! Internet Life Online Film Festival.

Today, Othick is the driving force behind Insomnia Entertainment, Nevada's first independent-film company. Could there be a better name for a production group based in the city that stays up all night to both work andparty? His partners are Tom Breitling and Tim Poster, previous owners of the Golden Nugget as well as stars of Mark Burnett's Fox series, The Casino. Other figures who are in on the venture are Station Casinos executives Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III and recognizable Vegas names John Gaughan and Bruce Wayne Gillies. And Othick can't wait to tell you about the company's first two movies, which make their debuts this month.

First there's Standing Still, which you could call a Big Chill for the Gen Y set, or better yet, a smarter American Pie. It's the story of bunch of guys who head to Vegas for a really big bachelor party before one of them gets married. Of course, a mix of characters and memories reassembles for the nuptials ...

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