Written by on Jan 29, 2013. Posted in Incentive News

New Mexico politicians call for elimination of filming incentive cap

Politicians in New Mexico are calling for the annual spending cap to be dropped from the state’s filming incentive. Democrats want the state to be able to pay out more than the existing maximum of USD50 million a year, to help secure more big-budget films on the scale of The Lone Ranger.

The USD50 million incentive cap was introduced in 2011 and there’s a feeling that it has limited the growth of New Mexico’s production industry. Through 2012 there was a rise in the number of projects claiming the subsidy, but they were mostly small-scale shoots.

Senator Phil Griego is a San Jose Democrat and spoke to Associated Press: “We want to send the word out to this industry that New Mexico is open and wanting them to come here to film.”

Republican politicians are focussing on New Mexico’s distinct locations and the high quality of local crew and filming equipment, but the financial incentives will inevitably become a major issue in the coming months.