Hollywood is fleeing California in favor of New Mexico, enticed by the state's 35 per cent tax breaks and looser COVID-19 restrictions.
The tax incentive this year has already brought $623 million into the Land of Enchantment- or Tamalewood as the locals have nicknamed it.
Netflix and NBCUniversal both built production studios in New Mexico this year after signing deals a few years back. Netflix penned a $2billion deal to produce content in the state over the next decade while NBCUniversal committed to a $500 million deal.
Netflix's desert plateau southeast of Mesa Del Sol containing 10 new sound stages and training facilities is now the company's main North American location and one of the largest film production complexes in the country.
Netflix signed a $2 billion deal to produce content in New Mexico over the next decade
NBCUniversal also built a studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico last year
The Land of Enchantment is offering a 35% tax incentive among other deals to the entertainment industry
The production company could not pass up on all that New Mexico was offering including $10 million from state Local Economic Development Act (LEDA) funds, $4.5 million from the city in 2018, an additional $17 million from the state and $7 million from the city in 2020, plus ongoing tax credits for filming that grows as the company accelerates production and unlimited reimbursements for every shoot, according to Bloomberg.
The Santa Fe Film Office founded in the summer of 2016 announced that there were 23 productions in fiscal year 2017, 49 productions in fiscal year 2018 and 73 productions in fiscal year 2019, which ran from July 2018 to June 2019.
According to New Mexico's Economic Development Department, 26 film, 24 television, and 19 other media projects have been produced in 2020 despite the pandemic.
In March, it was announced that 20 productions were underway in Albuquerque with some shows like Stranger Things and movies like Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar even switching locations to take advantage of the monetary attraction.
Both projects were originally shooting in Georgia which began offering tax incentives to the entertainment industry in 2005 but is now getting beat out by New Mexicos's offers.
The entertainment industry brought in $623 million to the state just this year
Jennifer LaBar-Tapia, film liaison at the Santa Fe Film Office told the Albuquerque Journal last year, 'Every year, we're on this uptick and the movie industry is this very word-of-mouth industry, so when productions come here and have a good experience, they come back, or they tell their counterparts at other studios or other people in the film industry about coming to Santa Fe.'
The state has also announced that it anticipates putting in an additional $38 million to incentivize the Tinseltown migration, according to Fox.
The state's economic development secretary Jeff Flock told Fox that the state is now seeing their revenue hit 'all-time records.'
Studios may also have been enticed by the looser COVID-19 restrictions after California imposed some of the toughest lockdown rules in the US - and as several California counties begin to bring back mask mandates.
Post a Comment