New Mexico works to get back on Hollywood's A-list

Nick Maniatis, New Mexico Film Office

Santa Fe New Mexican - New Mexican Alton Walpole, who works as both a line producer and a unit production manager in the film business, figures he’ll pay more state income tax in California than in New Mexico this year. So does SantaFean Rosario Provenza, an art director in the business. They’ve gone where the film work has gone: elsewhere. Wherever that is, they may encounter Guy Barnes. He has worked in the film business for 35 years as a production designer/art director; 10 of those years were spent here in New Mexico. Three of the last five film and television productions he has worked on in the past 18 months have been anchored in other states, he said. “In two years, you’ll be talking to me in Louisiana or Georgia,” he said, referencing two states that have become top players in the film business. Walpole and others attribute their new itinerant careers to changes in New Mexico’s film incentives program made by Gov. Susana Martinez and the Legislature early in 2011. The changes themselves weren’t the big issue, people say. It was the uncertainty hanging over the program as Martinez and state lawmakers debated the fate of it, leading Hollywood to look elsewhere for more security. The result was a lull in the film industry in New Mexico. But Martinez administration officials say things are turning around now, and the state can expect a busy next year. Read More News New Mexico

New Mexico works to get back on Hollywood's A-list