{"id":1506,"date":"2007-04-02T11:41:00","date_gmt":"2007-04-02T17:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/new-mexicos-film-industry-makes-hollywood-nervous\/"},"modified":"2007-04-02T11:41:00","modified_gmt":"2007-04-02T17:41:00","slug":"new-mexicos-film-industry-makes-hollywood-nervous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/04\/new-mexicos-film-industry-makes-hollywood-nervous\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico’s film industry makes Hollywood nervous"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Mexico<\/st1:state>\u2019s aggressive courtship of the film industry has many in Hollywood<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> nervous, the Los Angeles Times<\/a> is reporting.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

New Mexico<\/st1:state> has aggressively pursued the industry at a time when many in California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> are frustrated that its state government isn\u2019t working hard enough to stay competitive.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cUnlike scores of states seeking film shoots that pack up and leave when they are finished, New Mexico is zeroing in on the nuts and bolts of Hollywood,\u201d the Times reports. \u201cBy luring the support companies that form the bedrock of the Los Angeles<\/st1:city> entertainment economy, New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> aims to lay the foundation for a top-tier movie and TV production business.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The state has seen some success: Sony Pictures Imageworks is planning to move more than 100 jobs from the Los Angeles<\/st1:city> area to Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. Star Waggons, which leases trailers at film shoots in California<\/st1:state>, is opening an office in Albuquerque<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>. So are two other film-production companies, the Times reports.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

And Lions Gate Entertainment is preparing to build a $15-million production center in Rio Rancho. That\u2019s being done with a gift of 20 acres of land from the city and a $10-million loan from the state.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

California<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> isn\u2019t offering such incentives, frustrating many in that state\u2019s film industry. The Lions Gate facility \u201creally hits at the heart of what we\u2019re trying to keep,\u201d Steve MacDonald, president of a nonprofit that coordinates film permitting in the Los Angeles<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> area, told the Times.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cA decade ago, New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> couldn\u2019t rustle up a film crew,\u201d the article states. \u201cNow it has about 1,300 workers, enough for five feature films.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The article says production in New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> has jumped tenfold since 2004, generating a financial effect of $428 million last fiscal year.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Times gives Gov. Bill Richardson<\/a> most of the credit, pointing out that he pushed \u201cone of the most generous tax rebate programs in the country\u201d and has worked with the Legislature to provide other incentives.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The state says the program is operating in the black. Since 2003, it has received $50 million in tax revenue while paying out $33 million in incentives.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

As far as I can tell, those figures don\u2019t include local incentives like Rio Rancho\u2019s land donation, but also don\u2019t take into account the estimated financial effect.<\/p>\n

New Mexico\u2019s film and television business is a fraction of California\u2019s, but the state now ranks in the top five in film activity in the nation, the Times reports.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen a well-established company like Sony considers relocating or expanding into another area, that\u2019s very concerning,” California Film Commission Director Amy Lemisch told the Times. \u201cIt\u2019s a brick-and-mortar kind of business. The absence of financial incentives in California<\/st1:state> makes it easier for New Mexico<\/st1:place><\/st1:state> and all other regions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Mexico\u2019s aggressive courtship of the film industry has many in Hollywood nervous, the Los Angeles Times is reporting. New Mexico has aggressively pursued the industry at a time when many in California are frustrated that its state government isn\u2019t working hard enough to stay competitive. \u201cUnlike scores of states seeking film shoots that pack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}