After former Missoula City Councilor Jesse Ramos shared his experience as an extra for the ‘Yellowstone’ television series, KGVO asked Missoula County about the money the production company paid to rent the county courthouse for the scenes filmed there.

Credit: Jesse Ramos
Credit: Jesse Ramos
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Director of Facilities for Missoula County Jason Hauser spoke to KGVO about the TV series’ use of the county courthouse.

“I guess initially I was introduced to a gentleman named Dustin that works for Yellowstone through Chris Lounsbury (Chief Administrative Officer),” said Hauser. "They had contacted either him or the commissioner's office in regards to potentially using some of our facilities. I met with them and think that was around September. We met at the courthouse and did a walk-through, and they decided that it might be a location that they could use for a couple of different shoots.”

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Hauser revealed the amounts paid to Missoula County to film the ‘Yellowstone’ scenes.

“We started contracts with them under the guidance of Chris Lounsbury,” he said. “Not really knowing what one of those always cost, we started off on our first contract for about half a day filming. They did about $3,000 for that first contract. The second contract was for about a day and we did $5,000 on that one. And the last contract was for two and a half days and we did $8,000 on that. So, the three total different times that they filmed was a total of $16,000.”

Hauser said he was present to supervise the area during each shoot.

“I was there for every shoot because somebody from facilities needed to be there to maintain the site and to make sure everything was run accordingly,” he said. “We had to make sure that they stayed in areas that they were supposed to, so somebody was on site at all times, and that was me depending on the shoot. Before each shoot, they were there for about half a day on the outside of the building, and I would just say yes, every time they were there. It was a pretty large group of people.”

Hauser said he enjoyed the experience, but he admitted that Hollywood wasn’t in his future.

“I had a great time, yeah,” he said. “I guess it was very eye-opening to see the number of takes it takes them, and the different angles that they went through for just one scene. I guess it makes sense now that you watch a TV show, but I guess I never really thought of it the way that they see it, so it's kind of interesting.”

KGVO asked, “So how does it make you feel about showbiz, Jason?”

“They can have it,” he laughed. “They can have it.”

Hauser said the 'Yellowstone' crew used the courthouse in the evenings and on weekends and did not interfere with county activities.

County Commissioner Josh Slotnick told KGVO the $16,000 was placed in the county's general fund.

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