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.
California is losing film business. And New Mexico is partly to blame, says a new report touted by Gov. Bill Richardson.
“Rival locations (especially Canada, New York, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, and New Mexico) now offer an attractive combination of lower costs, technical talent, incentives, and infrastructure,” reads the first line of Film Flight: Lost Production and Its Economic Impact on California, a 46-page report issued by the Milken Institute.
“This study illustrates the value of our film initiatives from the point of view of a state that has lost significant numbers of jobs and revenue because of intense competition from places like New Mexico,” Richardson was quoted in a news release issued by his office Friday. “It clearly shows that we are a global film force to be reckoned with, and what we stand to lose if we don’t continue our efforts to build and support the industry here.”
Clearly Richardson saw this week’s report as a boon and jumped on the opportunity to trumpet its findings.
Critics say the incentives aren’t worth it
New Mexico’s efforts to lure film and TV productions here with lucrative tax refunds and low-interest loans have run into opposition of late. Some state lawmakers have questioned the policies given the bad economic times.
Yes, New Mexico can be found a lot on the big and little screen, including AMC’s critically acclaimed Breaking Bad, featuring two-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston. And yes productions filmed in New Mexico have racked up big-time awards, including Jeff Bridges’ best acting award for Crazy Heart.
But opponents point to the numbers. Over the past 33 months, 118 film and TV productions were reimbursed $181 million through the state’s controversial tax credit program, including $60 million for the fiscal year just ended, state documents show.
Supporters, including Richardson, respond that doing away with the program is short-sighted.
Besides, the film tax credit isn’t a true tax credit, they say; it’s more like a rebate.
It works like this: The film productions spend money in New Mexico and then the state reimburses a quarter of what each production spends in ‘qualified expenses,’ a broad category that contains any direct production expense purchased in New Mexico that has a state tax attached.
By that measure the 118 productions that were paid $181 million since July 1, 2007, have spent at least $724 million in New Mexico, they say.
NM film industry has reached ‘critical mass… that can sustain ongoing work,’ study says
Supporters also have said that New Mexico’s incentives have attracted enough productions over the few years to grow New Mexico’s community of film and TV workers into a competitive edge.
The Milken Institute appears to back up this claim, lumping New Mexico into a group of hard chargers that are challenging California, if not for supremacy, then for headlines.
New York, North Carolina, Louisiana, and New Mexico have made significant inroads in attracting this commerce, and now Georgia has also emerged as a strong contender. Although other locations, including Michigan, have been aggressive in providing tax breaks and incentives to film locally, the five states mentioned above have now built a true critical mass of production and post-production activity that can sustain ongoing work rather than just landing one-shot individual projects.
The Institute points out that from “2003 to 2008, compound growth in employment for California’s industry was 2.3 percent, compared with a massive 45.8 percent jump in New Mexico and 24.8 percent growth in Louisiana,” according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
California has reached such a low point, the Institute noted, that the Golden State lost out to Louisiana this year for the ironically titled production “Battle: Los Angeles,” with” Shreveport standing in for Santa Monica.”
