Santa Fe Network going live in …
July 11 launch set as film commission discusses how to bolster local content
A city commission’s vision of a more inclusive and better connected film community is taking shape, organizers and supporters say.
The Santa Fe Film and Digital Media Commission was tasked a little more than a year ago with charting the city’s path to a more viable, reliable film economy.
This month, a digital streaming channel will go live, and a brainstorming summit for film-industry creative types will take place.
The commission-driven projects reflect the group’s drive to smooth out the gaps between the current film industry and what advocates see as its full potential, bringing local content creators into the fold to ensure the film and television business is not wholly reliant on visiting Hollywood productions.
The dozen-plus commissioners, who hail from different sections of film and media industries, initially set out to simply identify those gaps. Some — a lack of high-speed internet and insufficient sound stage space — require more clout and investment than a volunteer advisory board can muster with no budget. But others can be addressed on the cheap. The issue of distribution, or how local storytellers might reach an audience, has found a potential answer in the Santa Fe Network, an online streaming channel that will host locally focused shorts, films, documentaries and whatever else filmmakers, institutions and businesses want to showcase.
The network will go live at a public ceremony July 11.
Before that launch event, the commission will host its second “above-the-line” discussion, bringing together Santa Fe writers and directors to shape shared experiences and needs into calls for action.
“This is about raising the level of enthusiasm and opportunity for anybody who likes to tell stories,” said film commission member Adam Shaening-Pokrasso.
The July 11 discussion event for writers, directors and others will be the commission’s second such event. In March, several dozen attendees focused their discussions on four areas of concern for the emerging filmmaker: funding, mentorship, collaborative workspaces and distribution.
While the roundtable discussions produced numerous and diverse suggestions, there was an overriding sentiment, Shaening-Pokrasso said recently.
“The single biggest comment was, ‘Thanks for getting us all together in a room,’ ” he said. “A lot of people said, ‘I’m surprised how many people I don’t know here.’ The largest problem we seek to solve is not so much about those individual initiatives but more about helping to remedy a culture of disconnectedness.”
The commission has plans to make the above-the-line discussions a regular event, with three or four gatherings a year.
So-called above-the-line roles include key creative jobs — that is, writers, directors, producers, actors. While New Mexico has a vibrant community for crew members, fewer development programs exist for people who want to inhabit these above-theline roles, said Deborah Potter, the film commission chairwoman.
“Most filmmakers started out in somebody’s garage, or wherever it is, and we’re hoping to build a strong community for those people here — the people who don’t want to have to move to L.A. or New York to make films or be involved in film,” Potter said.
The second above-the-line discussion will emphasize hands-on mentorship — how the local film community can create education or internship opportunities for emerging writers and directors, Shaening-Pokrasso said.
One attendee will be selected at random to press a button to launch the Santa Fe Network.
Organizers are optimistic the streaming channel can help provide an outlet for local filmmakers while also shining a spotlight on the city’s burgeoning film and media prowess. And a murderers’ row of local art groups, media organizations, think tanks and benefactors could help push the project into a self-fulfilling cycle where good content begets more attention, which begets more good content.
Nothing will be produced by the network by the time of the kickoff, but film commission member Lee Zlotoff, the television veteran driving the first-of-its-kind project, hopes to have outside projects lined up and ready to move.
The roster of partners who plan to collaborate with the network includes Meow Wolf, the Santa Fe Institute, The Santa Fe Opera, George R.R. Martin, Descartes Labs, the International Folk Art Alliance, Hipico Santa Fe, Littleglobe Transmedia and the School for Advanced Research.
Zlotoff, best known as the creator of MacGyver, said the network has received a steady stream of submissions. As those are evaluated, he said, the initial offerings on the network will be those partners’ media projects — some previously released, others new.
For instance, Elias Gallegos, film and media director for the local author and benefactor Martin, said they plan to share a few videos already in the can: a short documentary about the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary in Ramah in Western New Mexico and a filmed conversation last year between Martin and Stephen King. Gallegos said more new projects could develop.
John Feins, marketing director at Meow Wolf, said the arts collective plans to first share content that already exists on its site or elsewhere, then perhaps develop new episodic material that showcases different artists’ skill-sets.
“One of the things that caught my eye is we don’t really have communities and cities telling their stories anywhere online or on our cable channels, but there’s some pretty niche and boring stuff that does get piped into our homes,” Feins said. “There’s this
opportunity to pioneer a destination telling its own story — and in a sense Santa Fe might be the place to pioneer that.”
Mayor Javier Gonzales recently filed a resolution that would direct the city manager to identify matching funds to support the network. That resolution is scheduled to be heard by the Finance Committee July 17.