Montana News Roundup: Can Film Replace Forest Jobs in Missoula?

Can Missoula become a hub for film and TV production, creating a few hundred jobs?

The partners behind the new "Story House Montana" believe it can, as they officially started operations at the former Roseburg Forest Products mill on Friday. Last week's announcement comes almost a year to the day that the mill closed, idling 150 workers at a facility in operation since 1969.

     🎥 Studio@Story House will be working on 47 acres, with more than 400,000 square feet of space.

READ MORE: Roseburg Forest Products Shuts Down

Missoula a "Perfect" Location for Film Production

President and CEO James Brown III says the massive buildings are perfect for the sound stages and production facilities they plan to build.

"Once we saw this amazing space existed, absolutely film-ready, and the opportunity to utilize some of those workers who would ultimately lose jobs because of it shutting down, it just felt like such an opportunity," Brown told me after Friday's ribbon cutting.

Montana Story House was kept secret for months

Missoula Economic Partnership CEO Grant Keir told the audience Friday that Roseburg officials actually approached the MEP, hoping to find a new business for the space they were vacating.

"We know we can sustain this operation anymore in Missoula," Keir said of the conversation. "And we want to do the right thing for the community. So help us find a good transition for this space, so that it helps build a future for Missoula that reflects how much we appreciate what Missoula has done for us for decades."

The partners estimate the operation could support up to 400 jobs in peak production, with "85%" of crew jobs using many of the skills the mill workers and others already have, or can be re-trained for.

     🎬 The group already has two productions in the planning stages.

Woman Killed in Fiery Crash on Flathead

Montana Highway Patrol is now saying that the driver killed in that fiery crash north of Polson over the weekend was a 22-year-old woman, Elmo.

Initial reports indicate two trucks collided, one carrying jet fuel. But responders discovered the tanker from Kalispell was empty when it collided with what turned out to be a Jeep Wrangler in one of the narrow "rock cuts" on Highway 93 on Big Arm.

     Troopers say the woman in the Jeep had crossed over into the southbound lane, striking the semi head-on. The driver of the truck was hurt and taken to the hospital.

More Water Coming for the HiLine

There's some good news about bringing one of the biggest public works projects in Montana back online faster than expected, as Jason Laird reports.

Dig Deep to Buy a Montana Home

If you're looking to finally but a Montana home this summer, you'll still need a pretty good income stream to pull it off.

A study by Bankrate this spring shows it would take an annual income of more than $142,000 to buy a "typical" home in Montana.

And a new report by Visual Capitalist is even more expensive, suggesting that number is $177,000, which is the highest in the Intermountain West, and even more expensive than Washington State. That's also the 5th most expensive place to purchase a home out of all 50 states.

Montana Monday Math

     🌋 The 1980 eruption of Mt. St. Helens, 45 years ago this weekend, dumped an estimated 540 million tons of ash downwind in Eastern Washington, Idaho, and much of Montana.