The TV show Crash was filmed in and around Albuquerque, New Mexico last fall. Here's an interview with lead actor Nick Tarabay.Born and raised in
From the producers of the Academy Award-winning Best Motion Picture, the provocative 13-episode drama Crash looks at the way different lives intersect and collide in the melting pot of L.A. Tarabay recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about being involved with such a complicated and complex show.
To read the full article/interview, click here
Jan 7, 2009, 03:43 PM ET
Luring Filmmakers - Florida Erred in Cutting Incentives
From the Editorial Pages of the Brandenton (Fl) Herald.
While Florida lawmakers look everywhere in the state budget for savings, at least one cut is backfiring on our economy.
The Sunshine State’s natural beauty and other charms have long drawn Hollywood moviemakers for location shooting. But Florida’s incentive program to help attract even more got whacked from $25 million last year to $5 million this fiscal year.
While that looks like a tidy savings, the bottom line is the significant loss that Florida communities will no doubt suffer as studios take their business to states with generous paybacks.
Filming of the dog flick “Marley & Me,” the Owen Wilson-Jennifer Aniston hit now in theaters, pumped $10 million into the South Florida economy. Some 1,400 local movie industry workers earned wages and area hotels, restaurants and other businesses raked in money.
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The incentives are the nut and bolt of the New Mexico Film Industry, and don't think for a moment that you'd be working in New Mexico Film without them. Watch for increasing updates from crewnewmexico.com about the NM FIlm Incentives, and what you can do to help preserve and strengthen them.
We are pleased to introduce our readers to Dan Strakal, one of our newest members on crewnewmexico.com! Dan is a skilled local Albuquerque actor who has appeared in numerous feature films, short films, television programs, and commercials.
New Mexico has often been isolated from wild economic swings in the national economy. But it, too, began to feel the downturn in the last quarter of 2008.
The state’s unemployment stood at 4.4 percent in October (the latest data available), up from 3.3 percent a year ago, according the Department of Workforce Solutions. The national unemployment rate was 6.5 percent.
The rate of over-the-year job growth, from October 2007 to October 2008, was 0.1 percent — the lowest since 1991.
The construction industry was hammered this year and mining also saw downsizing.
Manufacturing has been a loss leader overall, according to Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of New Mexico. The sector is still smarting from Intel’s layoffs of 1,500 last winter.
The major sectors contributing to job growth were health care and social assistance, government and retail trade. Local government saw significant growth, driven by Native enterprises such as casinos and hotels.
Several firms announced plans to enter the market with significant employment, and existing companies expanded here as well. The film industry continued its rapid growth.
To read the full article, click here!
It's still unclear what direction the national board will take at its emergency meeting on Jan. 12-13, scheduled ostensibly by national exec director Doug Allen and president Alan Rosenberg to persuade the fractured 71-member panel to present a united front and convince members to vote up a strike authorization.
But the timing of the Monday night announcement was telling. It came a few hours after Allen and Rosenberg met with leaders of the Unite for Strength faction, a group of Hollywood moderates who gained five board seats in the fall after campaigning on a platform that asserted that Rosenberg and his allies had bungled the contract negotiations strategy.
Unite for Strength spokesman Ned Vaughn told Daily Variety that he and his colleagues expressed concerns about going ahead with the vote, given the growing numbers of SAG members - particularly high-profile stars such as George Clooney and Tom Hanks - coming on the "no" side.
"We felt that in light of what's been happening that it would have been reckless for the national board to proceed without having the chance to reconsider," Vaughn said. "We appreciate that they've taken our concerns seriously."
Read the full article here
