New Mexico, Film & Entertainment in ©Sindication

NMTourism Call for NMFilm

From the New Mexico Department of Tourism:

We are looking for an in-state Director and production team for a commercial production to shoot in New Mexico in January of 2013. The shoot will be 2-4 days. MOS. We are looking for a Director who has national, award-winning experience shooting outdoor/adventure sports and activities. In addition, this Director must be highly skilled in pulling authentic moments of humanity from all cast members. We would like the production team to be a tight group that has worked together, can maximize production value with a small footprint, move quickly, and get a lot of coverage using multiple cameras. Extensive experience shooting with an RC helicopter is mandatory, as well as other ways to increase production value with a limited number of team members. Please respond by EOD Monday, September 24. Send resume’s and questions to Martín Leger at martin.leger@state.nm.us.

Tags: Call for Director, Crew Call, New Mexico Department of Tourism, New Mexico Film, Production Team

Southern NM Volunteer Crew Call

Camera Hogs, LLC out of Las Cruces, New Mexico is set to produce a new drama series titled Desert Wasteland.

Beginning on a volunteer basis, shooting of the series pilot is scheduled to begin in September. Producers will be fundraising throughout the pilot to continue production into an entire season.

From the producers:

Although we don’t have the funds to pay our crew for the pilot, we are offering a copy on DVD with name in credits, one of our cool Camera Hogs t-shirts, Desert Wasteland poster and other apparel. We also offer the option of having a professional head-shot done in compensation for services provided. The pilot will be sent to film festivals locally, nationally, and internationally.

The pilot will be shot in SW NM, in the El Paso/Las Cruces areas.

Tags: Meal & Reel, Volunteer

New Mexico to the World

UPDATE 3/15/12: NOW ON KRQE | Santa Fe New Mexican | ABQ Journal

Friday evening, moments after a quick mention on the weekly radio show, Cinema Scope (101.1 Santa Fe/simulcast on the web) touched on some local concerns around the disconnect between New Mexico State Tourism and the State Film Industry, confirmations of the out of state marketing firm awarded the $2M New Mexico contract having recently hired a San Francisco production company to trek-in and film tourism spots poured in.

IATSE 480 Business Director, Jon Hendry tells OHI exclusively:
(IATSE 480 – New Mexico chapter of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees)

“I’m disappointed that the New Mexico Tourism department chose to go with a California based production company to shoot their most recent commercial. The Department often points to their limited budget yet spends considerably more than they needed to transporting an entire crew from out of State. They brought in equipment we have readily available here and even shipped in Wardrobe for New Mexicans, no doubt so they could look “authentic”. The two local hires [on the production] were the Craft service person and the driver.

To add insult to injury the New Mexican based talent were the lowest paid people on the shoot, working for flats with no residuals. And by coincidence the weather on the shoot days were [un]typically blustery spring days with complete overcast when they were shooting the Santa Fe Plaza. A local crew would have called a weather day but when you’ve transported everyone a long way then that’s not possible. They can hardly have showed NM in its best light.

The main problem is this; We in the Industry have not convinced our own Tourism Department that there’s better, cheaper and more committed resources right here in the State. More troubling, our Film Office who evidently were aware of this and did not intercede apparently feel the same or how could this occur? If they are not our advocates who is?” -Jon Hendry

After the recent shoots, Hendry furthermore extended his apologies to New Mexico production companies vowing to work harder than ever going forward to close gaps between state agencies and state film workers.

Multiple, highly qualified in-state production houses are known to have made considerable efforts to submit for work on the New Mexico State Tourism ad campaign. One local production house confirmed to industry advocates that their firm worked diligently, over several months attempting to be considered for production work on the local tourism shoot.

Repeated contact, including at least one promising exchange with the Texas based company hired to execute the ad campaign, [pen]ultimately led to the New Mexico company being simply ignored – that is until the visiting crew hired was on location here in NM, when it is reported that the California producers called-in for advice on how to shoot a particular way, while the aforementioned regional weather issues griped the production.

Based on such accounts, what we can so far come to expect from the forthcoming campaign is an overcast Santa Fe Plaza and a wind ravaged Sandia Peak. At least it looks like the Kayak shoot was a success. New Mexico Kayak Instruction, Inc. (NMKI) posted on their blog all about the very positive experience of their water sport segment of the campaign shoot.

“Yesterday was my first experience working with the New Mexico Film industry,” NMKI’s Kelly Gossett wrote of the filming. Kayaks yes, NMFilm not so much. Click here for the full account on how at least one New Mexico based company was featured thus far in this out of state, out of pocket ad campaign.

Related: Vendor Inc. | State Tourism RFP | Commercial Casting Call

Tags: Commercial Shoot, IATSE Local 480, Jon Hendry, KSFR Santa Fe, New Mexico Tourism, New Mexico Tourism Department, Vendor Inc.

#LA/#NM Cast & Crew Call for Stephenie Meyer’s The Host

According to LeadCastingCall.com, casting directors in California and Louisiana are preparing to fill supporting roles for the upcoming Louisiana/New Mexico shoot of “The Host“, saying:

If you are interested in a supporting role in this film please forward your headshot and resume info to -
Mindy Marin
Casting Artists, Inc.
Bluewater Ranch, 1433 Sixth St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401 –and/or–

Brent Caballero ‘Caballero Casting’
9522 Brookline Ave Baton Rouge, LA 70809

Those interested in roles as extras (Louisiana) can register with Batherson Casting

If you are interested in a position as a crew member you can forward your resume to host.resumes@gmail.com

Principal photography is scheduled to begin in Louisiana in February, moving to New Mexico thereafter. Check out our coverage of the lead actors and the synopsis here.

Confirmation and local New Mexico casting updates to follow…

Tags: Louisiana Film, New Mexico Film, Stephenie Meyer, The Host, The Host Casting

Happy NEW Yo! Silver Will Ride JAN. 2012

The most trusted website on the internets (not really) is reporting that Johnny Depp will take a big pay cut to film “The Lone Ranger”.

Walt Disney Pictures has come to financial terms with producer Jerry Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski, Johnny Depp, and other key members of the cast and crew of “The Lone Ranger”. Changes include a reduction in the budget from $250 million to approximately $200 million. Filming will still take place in New Mexico, with some additional filming in Utah instead of Texas as originally planned. The film’s remaining supporting cast are still being cast in Los Angeles, and smaller speaking roles, extras, stand-ins, and photo-doubles for the film’s stars are being cast in New Mexico and Utah.

There had been a huge extras casting call scheduled in Silver City, New Mexico on August 21, 2011. Disney pulled the plug just one week before the call was to take place. The studio claimed that the budget was just too high. Director Gore Verbinski had already finalized the shooting script and signed on his lead actors, Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp – both of which would have to be paid whether the project went further or not. The Screen Actors Guild never removed “The Lone Ranger” from it’s (sic) production list, leading to speculation that this delay has been nothing more that a ploy by the studio to get the budget reduced by $50 million.

In addition to cast and crew changes, other cuts include reducing the amount of CGI effects, and vendors working on the film such as special effects houses and even hotels have agreed to accept reduced guaranteed fees in order to assure that the costs of the production remain acceptable to the studio. There was also several pricey steam locomotive train sequences that were to be in the film, but have now been cancelled to further cut costs.

» Read the full post

Tags: Armie Hammer, Disney, Gore Verbinski, Jerry Bruckheimer, Johnny Depp, New Mexico Style, The Lone Ranger, The Lone Ranger Movie

NM Film Needs Your Body

Ironically many New Mexicans in Film, Entertainment, Trades and Local Business are working and can’t up the head-count to take a stand FOR NM FILM over at the Roundhouse.

But, we know plenty of y’all could & would haul your bodies up there and put your best act on if it were for a part in The Avengers or the like. Well this call to action may be one of the most important try-outs of your professional life.

Without a show of force NM Film remains in peril and efforts to keep cast, crews, support services and our kids in training for all of the above gainfully employed are shaky – we need a full cast & crew present to keep our top spot in global film production. If you would make the trek to audition or tryout for a role to further your career make this trip to capital city within the next few days.

Today we were able to chat briefly with IATSE Local 480 Business Manager and Film lobbyist, Jon Hendry. He’s quite literally been making the rounds, up at the Big House in Santa Fe and tells us we can take head that there is time left and negotiations open that we can still impact – the calls and emails are going through but NM Film needs your body.

Click here to listen to Hendry give us a little what’s-up with that industry we hold so dear…including who’s still trying to pull what and what our best bets are moving forward.

Tags: 2011 Legislature, Auditions, Casting Call, Crew Call, IATSE Local 480, Jon Hendry, New Mexico Film Incentives, Roundhouse, Santa Fe, Tryouts

First Avengers CREW CALL

Scheduled to begin production in New Mexico this April, THE AVENGERS is NOW ACCEPTING CREW CREDENTIALS!

Get in on the biggest production to hit the Land of Enchantment…

Crew resumes can be submitted to:
“Group Hug”
c/o Albuquerque Studios
5650 University Blvd. SE
Bldg. C / 1st Floor
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Or Email: easternfilm@cupber.com

Tags: Crew Call, New Mexico, The Avengers