As a folksinger myself, I couldn’t help humming that tune all throughout the taping of the first in our series of four specials featuring renewable energy. This episode of New Mexico In Focus features the wind industry. How apt, as March roars out like a lion and the gusts seem strong enough to blow even an ample person like myself away, that we produce a show focusing on one of New Mexico’s most abundant commodities: wind.
How many roads can a man walk down? Travel the Road to Corona as independent producer Chris Dudley takes a trip to to see how the wind industry is providing an economic boost to this rural New Mexican town.
We also had some of the top players in the industry in our studio for a discussion on the promise and pitfalls of harnessing and using this natural resource: Greg Nelson, Executive Director of Utility Services for PNM, Michael McDiarmid, Manager of the New Mexico Wind Power Program for the state’s Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department, and Jose Zayas, Manager of the Wind Energy Technology Department at Sandia National Laboratories.
And as if that topic weren’t enough, we also had a lively discussions on a variety of other subjects, which included opinions on the recently ended New Mexico Legislative session with our regular and semi-regular panelists Jim Scarantino, Teresa Cordova (filling in for Margaret Montoya while she’s away teaching in New York), Marco Gonzales (filling in for Whitney Waite Cheshire this week, and guest Steve Terrell, whose blog Roundhouse Roundup is worth checking out!
It’s only appropriate that this week’s show focuses on the impact of the film industry in New Mexico. That’s because the chain of events leading up to the taping of this week’s show had enough twists and turns for Hollywood screenplay. If you ever thought that TV was glamorous, think again! Here’s just a brief timeline of how things played out.
Monday: The show is basically booked. The plan is to interview Albuquerque Journal Entertainment Reporter Dan Mayfield inside one of the Albuquerque Studio soundstages. Then, we follow up with a panel discussion in studio, which is all set to tape on Thursday. Here’s the lineup:
Eric Witt, Legislative Director for Bill Richardson and his top film and media industries adviser
Rep. Dennis Kintigh from Roswell. He authored the legislation this year that would have repealed the state’s 25% rebate program for film related expenses
Tuesday: Everything is firmed up for the Thursday taping. Eric Witt and Rep. Kintigh are set to join the discussion from our Santa Fe studio, which is located inside the Roundhouse. Nick Smerigan will be in studio here in Albuquerque, and Paul Gessing will be calling in by phone (he flies out of state on Wednesday)
Wednesday: We tape our interview with Dan Mayfield at the Albuquerque Studios, and all is well. We appreciate Nick and Gail Smerigan letting us use the massive soundstage as a backdrop. It adds a nice visual element to the discussion.
Thursday, 11:30-ish: Lisa Strout with the state film office calls to let me know that Eric Witt will not be able to make the taping today. Business in the Roundhouse will make that impossible. Lisa is also not available because she has a big bill up for consideration as well. At this point, we are now less than four hours away from the start of taping for the show!
Thursday, 12pm: After talking with Lisa, we both agree the next best thing to replace Eric is Jon Hendry, head of the local film tech union. Calls are made, pleas extended, and Jon agrees to come on.
Thursday, 12:15pm: Calls are now made to Albuquerque Studios, to let Nick know what has happened, and what the new plan is. Within 5 minutes we learn that Nick is not comfortable going on without Eric Witt, and also has reservations about being the only other pro-film industry voice alongside Jon Hendry. In the end, we decide that we will just go with a discussion between Representative Kintigh and Jon Hendry. That way the table is balanced. One person in favor of the incentives, one against. So, the word goes out to Paul Gessing: “thanks for the help, but we no longer need you.”
12:30pm: Calls are made to Rep. Kintigh’s office to catch him up to speed. The calls continue until almost 2:15pm, when we finally get word to his office about the changes.
2:20pm: Representative Kintigh calls back and says he is not interested in debating Jon Hendry on this issue. He explains that that is not the conditions he agreed to on Monday. He also has questions about Hendry’s credibility, based on a dust-up over a report that Hendry provided to the Legislative Finance Committee (more on that in a minute). After a little back and forth explaining the chaing of events, Rep. Kintigh requests a solo interview instead.
2:30pm: All sides agree to a solo interview with Jon Hendry and a solo interview with Rep. Kintigh, to be run back to back. That’s what you see in the show. The interviews in the show were shortened for time, though. But, not to worry, you can watch them in their entirety right here. Included in the unedited version are both sides of that LFC report dust-up that was previously mentioned. Enjoy!
Rep. Kintigh
Jon Hendry
And, we also had to trim down our inteview with Dan Mayfield, but through the magic of TV and the Internet, we also have the complete unedited version of the conversation for you to enjoy!
Dan Mayfield
So, we survived the taping. But, it wasn’t over yet. Apparently, unbeknownst to the producers of the show, there was a Film office person in the room for the interview with both Hendry and Kintigh, taking notes. And, that person caught a mistatement by Representative Kintigh in terms of the film loan project. Representative Kintigh said that hundreds of movies had qualified for the loans, when in fact it is only about 2 dozen (you can see the full list here). He also made the claim that none of those movies made a profit, which means the state made no money on those loans either. That’s not exactly the case either, as you can see on the aforementioned report (some of the movies made money on interest for late payments, for example). Needless to say these are complicated issue, and both sides are keeping track of every word uttered.
Our goal in this show was to try to create an in-depth and enlightened discussion about the real impact of the film industry in this state, as well as the controversial incentives package our state has on the books to attract films to New Mexico. There were a lot of hurdles along the way, but we hope you feel like that was accomplished. If not, don’t worry, I’m sure will get it another try on down the line!
Still think TV is glamorous?
The Public Affairs Team
P.S. By the way, part of the goal this week was also to talk about two conflicting reports on the impact of the film industry in New Mexico. You can study them yourselves, by clicking below.
