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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR W K Martinez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/15/2007

HB 953

SHORT TITLE NMSU Grants Film Technician Development

SB

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$50.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to SB 375, SB 525, and SB 757

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico State University – Grants (NMSU – Grants)

Higher education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 953 appropriates $50,000 from the General Fund to the NMSU Regents for

expenditure in FY 2008 to support continued program development at NMSU – Grants for

training film technicians, including purchase of equipment, supplies and film and providing

stipends for industry mentors to train students.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $50,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The goal of NMSU-Grants Digital Film Technology training program, in collaboration with

House Bill 953 – Page

2

PAH-Fest (Project Accessible Hollywood), is to create a rural New Mexico training program to

develop crews for the film industry where none currently exists. NMSU-Grants (NMSU-G)

Digital Film Technology Certificate program was developed with assistance from Ears XXI, a

digital film company founded by California filmmaker Christopher Coppola. NMSU-Grants and

Ears XXI’s film training incorporates educational goals which include helping students discover

the artistic and technical aspects of digital technology and working with students to create films

for international distribution.

As part of this educational outreach, Ears XXI created PAH-Fest and a digital film festival held

for the first time in summer of 2006. Initial funding for this start-up training initiative was

provided by NMSU-Grants via existing institutional resources, volunteer efforts of lead faculty

Doug Bocaz-Larson and $35,000 in state funding in 2006.

This request was not submitted by NMSU-Grants to the HED for review and is not included in

the Department’s funding recommendation for FY08.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

SB 375 – appropriates $50,000 to the Cultural Affairs Department for an American Indian Arts

summer film and television workshop.

SB 459 – appropriates $250,000 to the NMSU Regents to create a virtual film school in the

Creative Media Institute for the Office of Distance Education at NMSU.

SB 525 – creates a sub-cabinet Media Arts and Entertainment Department Act in the Executive

Branch to consolidate state functions to develop media arts in the entertainment industry in the

state.

SB 757 – appropriates $700,000 to the UNM Regents for the Film and Digital Media Program.

SB 758 – appropriates $500,000 to the Economic development Department to support film and

media employment training and students productions.

Several New Mexico higher education institutions have already implemented film programs that

are working together to produce both “above the line" and “below the line" trained staff. "Above

the line" staffs are the creative talent, writers, directors, and producers. "Below the line" staffs

are for technical and film studio crews

The following New Mexico public higher education institutions have film programs available:

.

Central New Mexico Community College (CNM)

.

Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU)

.

Eastern New Mexico University - Ruidoso

.

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

.

Santa Fe Community College (SFCC)

.

University of New Mexico (UNM)

NMSU has created the Creative Media Institute (CMI) which teaches all aspects of the

filmmaking from the technician skills to creating digital animation.

House Bill 953 – Page

3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of the NMSU-Grants students are Native American and thirty-three

percent (33%) are Hispanic. The service area, Cibola County, includes four (4) tribal

communities (Laguna, Acoma, parts of Zuni and parts of the Navajo Nation) and a large

Hispanic student population.

A unique aspect of the NMSU-Grants program is the pairing of NMSU-Grants students with

local New Mexican professional film mentors to work on film projects created by the students.

The film mentors provide students an understanding of expectations/critique of the film industry

and in turn become a source of networking to film industry.

The industry partnership with EARSXXI to create a local film festival (PAH-Fest) produced in

Grants provides NMSU-Grants students hands on experience with film crews as well as builds

economic activity for the Cibola County region, drawing in potential interest in the region from

filmmakers for base operations and movie locations.

BM/nt