The film and TV tax credit that put New Mexico on the map is now nearly two decades old. Launched in 2003, it didn’t just transform the production landscape in the Land of Enchantment, along with a new tax credit in Louisiana, the state also kicked off a domestic incentives arms race that created vibrant industry hubs across the country and changed how projects are financed.
Today, New Mexico offers a base 25% refundable tax credit that can go as high as 35% when other uplifts are factored in. For instance, productions can earn an additional 5% by shooting in one of the state’s 15 qualified production facilities, an offer the state would’ve been unable to make in the early days of the incentive, when productions searching for soundstages usually had to settle for an abandoned warehouse or factory.
Direct production spend in New Mexico hit a record $855.4 million in fiscal year 2022, up 36% year-over-year from 2021. The state has also been benefiting from the trickle-down effects of film and TV tourism.
And, of course, reliable work for technical and creative staff enables folks to move here, live here…continue earning their living somewhere laid back and mellow.
Eideard 
“Our post-election, Georgia Peach logo-meets-Wakanda Forever column drew an interesting email from the New Mexico Film Office. Would we be interested in chatting, they asked, now that their governor, Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham, has also been handily reelected, as the state seeks to emphasize its specific differences with Georgia?
Before, this kind of conversation would have been restricted to differences in production tax incentives, and perhaps the square footage of available soundstages. But now, they’re also happy to emphasize the cultural differences between themselves and Georgia.
So it was that we found ourselves chatting with Amber Dodson, director of the New Mexico Film Office — a position she assumed some three years ago (after overseeing Albuquerque’s citywide film office). https://www.btlnews.com/commentary/union-roundup/amber-dodson-new-mexico-film-commissioner-interview-union-roundup/
7AM MST, tomorrow morning, 4th
Nice read. Thank you for sharing. Wonderful photos.