PIECE OF THE PIE
Las Cruces aims to attract productions to southern NM
Las Cruces is working to get more productions to the southern part of the state.
LAS CRUCES — A ragtag team fighting for recognition and respect is a familiar theme in Hollywood movies, but in this case the underdogs are members of the Film Las Cruces board who are vying for the attention of producers looking for places to shoot a movie.
“Yeah, we’re the up and comer. We’re the fighter,” said New Mexico Sen. Jeff Steinborn, president of the Film Las Cruces board.
New Mexico’s second-largest city is working to lure more film, television and other productions to shoot on location in southern New Mexico.
“When people think of
Las Cruces: ‘It’s all desert.
It’s probably all adobe.’ And that’s wildly untrue,” said Jon Foley, film liaison for Film Las Cruces, the nonprofit organization that works to promote and develop the region as an emerging film hub.
New Mexico topped its own record for film industry spending for the third year in a row with $505.9 million in direct spending, an increase over the $387 million spent in 2016.
The lion’s share of productions film in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and the surrounding areas.
“Numbers speak for themselves. Incentive works, but we need to figure out a way for it to work better for our area in southern New Mexico,” said Foley.
One idea is to create an additional incentive to encourage filmmakers to consider a variety of locations across the state. It’s something Steinborn says has worked for New York.
“I think it’s time for New Mexico to look at that so that we can share this windfall that just continues to break records each year so we can continue to share that wealth with the whole state and grow those jobs around the whole state,” said Steinborn.
Las Cruces filmmaker and actor Mark Vasconcellos said the weather in southern New Mexico is an added advantage for some productions.
“When sets and outdoor locations are snowed in up north, a lot of outdoor productions can come to Las Cruces or the borderlands,” said Vanconcellos.
He produced and co-directed the independent film “River,” set in Las Cruces and El Paso. Andrew Gomez of El Paso wrote the psychological thriller and plays the lead role, a border detective.
“It’s kind of good we have a lot of independent filmmakers here in the borderlands,” said Vasconcellos. He said “River,” now available on Amazon, was made on a “micro-budget,” and included more than 30 locations and 60 speaking roles.
Independent filmmakers in the region hope to serve as an engine for future growth by also attracting more out-of-state productions.
“That just adds diversity to the entire state of New Mexico. The more movies we have coming into the state, the better it is for anyone,” said Vasconcellos.
The ultimate goal for many who want to see southern New Mexico become another hub for filmmakers is to have a studio in Las Cruces.
Steinborn is optimistic it will happen.
“We’re that hidden gem that, as we grow and become more well known, I think we’re going to achieve our own renaissance much like the northern part of the state has experienced,” he said.