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Netflix buys up New Mexico studio facility for massive new production hub
When Netflix moved into its new Los Angeles headquarters last year, the company made sure it had several sound stages at the ready for any production needs. Now the streaming service is taking things a step further, acquiring ABQ Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as part of a plan to bring as much as $1 billion in production to the state over the next 10 years.
Los Angeles is often thought of as a center for film and television production, but studios and production companies have been regularly traveling to other locations to shoot for years. States like New Mexico (Breaking Bad, Netflix's Godless) and Georgia (The Walking Dead, Avengers: Infinity War) can provide a more attractive environment because they're not only less crowded than Los Angeles, but the states themselves also offer tax breaks and financial incentives that actually make it more cost-effective to shoot there. ABQ Studios, which boasts nine stages offering over 170,000 square feet, has been the site of numerous high-profile movies and shows, including Logan, Preacher, Better Call Saul, and the original The Avengers.
Perfect for dry, desolate content.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:05PM (5 children)
Hollywood (in the wider sense of the term) is really good at getting taxpayers to fund their business for them.
I'm sure the state of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque will provide huge piles of taxpayers cash to these guys, then when everyone gets sick of paying, and nobody can provide any evidence of the benefits, they will move on to the next place silly enough to offer.
I will be one of the people paying James Cameron a quarter of the cost of his new Avatar movies. This is uncapped, so I assume he will let us know how much to cough up at some point, although if he's clever like Warner Studios, once the filming is complete, he will claim the money does not include the editing and post-production stuff and if we don't pay more he will take that work off to LA. That is exactly what happened with the Hobbit, and I wish our stupid government told them to piss off.
We can't afford "jobs" like these, and I suspect New Mexico can't either.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:13PM (3 children)
s/Hollywood/Corporate_America
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:38PM (2 children)
To be fair, it's not just corporate America, because it happens here too.
Every time it stops raining for more than a few weeks (like, you know in the summer) the farmers all start squealing that they're going to go out of business if they don't get "help" from the government.
It seems to me that if your cash flow is that poor, you should not be in business, but apparently I'm wrong, because "jobs".
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:45PM
Yeah, it seems we've exported "our" corporate ethos to the rest of the world. Sorry about that, but you know how hard it is to keep cancer from spreading.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by looorg on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:46PM
That said tho I would be far more inclined to fork over some pork-money to the farmers then to Hollyweird. After all I do have to eat but I could live without their "culture".
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday October 09 2018, @11:42PM
New Mexico does offer a limited number of filming incentives, which generate a substantial return on investment. I haven't heard any mention of Netflix getting any special treatment though, and I suspect it would face an uphill battle since our current Governor has shown herself to be quite hostile even to the existing incentive structure. There is some worry among the local acting/filming community that Netflix may gobble up the limited number of annual filming incentives available and chase away the other studios, but otherwise the mood seems to be positive.