MOVIEMAKER MAGAZINE

Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker, 2020

3. Santa Fe 

Could 2020 be the year that Tom Hanks replaces Walter White as the face of New Mexico’s entertainment industry? Hanks shot two high-profile projects in New Mexico this year: Bios, the aforementioned sci-fi film (see our entry on Albuquerque, above) and News of the World, a post-Civil War adventure, will both arrive in theaters for next Oscar season. 

There are many reasons Santa Fe has been in our Top 5 for five years running: stunning natural beauty and light, a proactive film office quick to point out New Mexico tax incentives, and a mix of cowboy hospitality and high-culture institutions like the Santa Fe Opera and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. It honors its Native American history, celebrating locations like Taos Pueblo, a Native American settlement at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains established 1,000 years ago. The town of 83,000 has a sense of majestic peace, but locations that recall the violent shootouts of the Old West are only a short drive away. 

The same incentives that apply in nearby Albuquerque also apply in Santa Fe: a 25 to 35% production tax credit, and eligibility for the Film Crew Advancement Program, which provides 50% wage reimbursement for on-the-job training of New Mexico residents. 

And Santa Fe isn’t the worst place for waiting around during production delays, given its whitewater rafting, horseback riding, mountain biking, galleries, museums, and hot springs. You can shoot your project very efficiently in New Mexico. But you may also want to take your sweet time.