By Richard Verrier
Tribune Newpapers: Los Angeles Times

April 16, 2007

ALBUQUERQUE -- The sign inside the airport terminal here proclaims a dusty mesa a few miles away to be "Hollywood's Newest Home," a reference to a plot of land where four vanilla-colored soundstages recently sprouted.

There, in the shadow of the snowcapped Sandia Mountains, the aircraft-hangar-like buildings at Albuquerque Studios house part of a budding film industry that one local newspaper dubbed Tamalewood. This year, four more soundstages will be added to anchor a bustling movie production center equal in size to 10 large supermarkets.

"This facility is second to none in the U.S.," said Chief Operating Officer Nick Smerigan, speaking over drilling to install a vent. "Eventually we'll be a first call for people who are leaving L.A."

Thanks to generous financial sweeteners, a fairly mild climate and an aggressive state film office, New Mexico can back up that kind of swagger.

Unlike scores of states seeking film shoots that pack up and leave when they are finished, New Mexico is zeroing in on the nuts and bolts of Hollywood. By luring the support companies that form the bedrock of the Los Angeles entertainment economy, New Mexico aims to lay the foundation for a top-tier movie and TV production business.

Sony Pictures Imageworks plans to move a major chunk of its visual effects business -- and more than 100 jobs -- from Southern California to Albuquerque Studios.

Star Waggons, which leases the trailers that are a signature of film shoots around L.A., is opening an office in Albuquerque. So are equipment supplier Clairmont Camera and payroll servicer Axium International.

In nearby Rio Rancho, Lions Gate Entertainment is gearing up to build a $15 million production center on 20 acres provided by the city, and with the help of a pending $10 million loan from the state.

"That really hits at the heart of what we're trying to keep" in Los Angeles, said Steve MacDonald, president of FilmL.A. Inc., a non-profit group that coordinates film permitting.

New Mexico's film and TV business remains a small fraction of California's, which has an estimated annual value of more than $30 billion statewide.

Nonetheless, New Mexico's aggressive courtship is worrisome to Hollywood.

"When a well-established company like Sony considers relocating or expanding into another area, that's very concerning," said California Film Commission Director Amy Lemisch.

It was Gov. Bill Richardson, now a Democratic presidential candidate, who spearheaded New Mexico's film industry surge after his election in 2002 by pushing through one of the most generous tax rebate programs in the country, bankrolled by oil and gas revenue.

The program has more than paid its way.

Since 2003, the state has reaped $50 million in tax revenue from the film industry; it has paid out $33 million to finance the rebates and interest-free loans, state officials say.

The state's film nerve center is a converted theater in Santa Fe. Lisa Strout, director of the state's film office, keeps a chart listing about 40 potential projects.

"We used to get 10 scripts a year," Strout said. "Last year we got 250 scripts."