I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Seven people are vying for the role of film consultant to the State Investment Council (SIC), State Investment Officer Steven Moise told SIC members Tuesday.
The agency is in the middle of a search to possibly replace the agency’s current film consultant, Hollywood insider Peter Dekom, who until recently earned $350,000 a year helping the SIC determine which film productions are a good fit for for the agency’s no-interest film loan program.
The agency is looking to save money and hopes to have a new contract in place by next month with a consultant earning much less than Dekom does now. In April the agency asked Dekom to work for $15,000 a month, or about half of what he was paid, through June 30.
“I believe we will have a new person, or Peter if he proposed, in place well before his two months come to an end,” Moise said.
Dekom’s salary became an issue after it came out publicly that he earned his salary while working 80 to 90 hours a month to vet applications to the SIC’s film loan program.
The SIC’s film loan program has come up for scrutiny of late. Two former members of the SIC have recommended that the agency review it, saying that the costs to the state may outweigh the benefits the program brings in.
Representatives of the governor’s office, meanwhile, have defended the program, saying the loans help bring film productions and jobs to New Mexico.
The SIC’s no-interest loan program often has been overshadowed by New Mexico’s film tax credit. The tax credit program has generated a high-profile battle between the Richardson administration and some powerful lawmakers who have tried unsuccessfully to reduce or discontinue it.
But despite the loan program’s low-profile visibility, there’s a substantial amount of money involved.
New Mexico has given no-interest loans totaling $273 million to 26 projects since 2003, according to a chart on the SIC Web site. The loans have varied from the $15 million given to the Denzel Washington film Book of Eli to $1.7 million given to the more obscure to Cruel World (aka The Experiment).
While defenders say the loan program helps attract jobs, there have been missteps. Bordertown, a Jennifer Lopez film, initially defaulted on a $2.35 million loan, an action that converted the loan into a interest-bearing loan, which was paid back in full, according to representatives of the governor’s office.
