Movie makers want to build a $70 million film studio in Mesa to bring Hollywood here. But its success hinges on Arizona politics.

Jeff Santo was a tyke when he started coming to Mesa for spring training baseball in the early 1970s. Now, the son of Chicago Cubs icon Ron Santo and 20-year film industry veteran is trying to bring a motion-picture soundstage to the East Valley’s biggest city.

Gateway Studios, headed by industry rookie Vince Stark, plans to build a $70 million production complex near Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. Movie industry insiders and local government officials are calling the studio the missing piece that Arizona needs to become a major movie-making player.

Stark says his group has financing for the $45 million first phase and will start construction this summer in a far southeast Mesa cotton field. However, studio officials say its size and benefit to the Arizona economy depend on renewal of a state tax incentive for movie production.

The tax incentive, which expires December 31, is currently before the state Legislature and, at first blush, is about as likely to be extended in these budget-deficit times as the Cubs breaking their World Series curse.

But that’s not stopping supporters. They contend Gateway Studio’s proximity to local and international filmmaking amenities, the state’s scenic backdrop, Mesa’s airport and the local workforce make it a natural fit.

Santo says Jake’s Corner, shot south of Payson and co-produced by Phoenix Suns assistant coach Dan Majerle, shows the industry’s potential in Arizona. Santo says his “one small independent film” kept three Payson motels full for eight weeks and pumped $1.5 million into the state economy overall. Imagine what scores of independent films, or a few major productions, would mean to the economy, Santo says.

“A studio is the one thing we are missing,” says Santo, who is lobbying state lawmakers to renew the film industry’s tax incentive. “A lot of Jake’s Corner money was spent out of state because I had to do most of my post-production work in L.A.”

Don Livesay, executive director of the Screen Actors Guild’s Arizona branch, says a strong workforce is already in Arizona, with about 900 members representing all aspects of the industry. “Our people work anywhere, but they live here by choice and would prefer to work here, too,” he says.

Mesa’s economic development plans call for 100,000 jobs in the Gateway area, which is anchored by the former Williams Air Force Base. The Gateway Studios project, which expects to employ about 200 people, fits into that plan.

City officials say the studio would bring business and star power to the planned Gaylord Resort and Conference Center, which would be five minutes north of the studio. The operation would also generate traffic for the airport, which is three miles away.

But the Arizona-as-the-next-Hollywood plot thickens when the action moves to the Legislature. “Anything that is going to cost the state money is a tough sell unless you can prove you are going to bring in more money,” says State Representative Michele Reagan, R-Scottsdale, who led a revision of the current tax incentive. “It (the tax incentive) would bring economic activity to the state, and we should embrace it.”

Stark says the grand opening is planned for 2012. “If the state incentive doesn’t work out, we will go after our first phase,” Stark says. “It will be less movie-related and more of a technology business, such as animation and video game productions that can’t be matched anywhere.”