Computer animation is part of the software and information technology economic cluster that the state wants to see grow, and the state board has approved incentives in the past for Disney-related film productions — including the "High School Musical" movies and shows that aired at the Disney Channel.

"These are high-paying jobs," Oldroyd said, "and in an area we have designated as a cluster and a company we're familiar with and...have supported in the past."

In the past couple of years, video-game companies — as well as programming and artistic jobs — have been growing along the Wasatch Front.

In addition to Disney's presence, Headgate, which designed a Tiger Woods Golf series of games, was bought by Electronic Arts and is now programming games for the Nintendo Wii as EA Salt Lake. And Incognito Entertainment, which played a major role in the development of the hugely popular "Twisted Metal" series, has created an off-shoot studio called Eat Sleep Play to complement their current contract work with Sony.

The state also has a strong contingent of independent developers who work on games on their own or for larger studios.

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Contributing: Associated Press.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com