SANTA FE, NM: Author and film producer George R. R. Martin waded into the politics of movie industry tax breaks on Thursday while endorsing a prominent Democratic candidate for governor of New Mexico.
Martin, a longtime Santa Fe resident and author of fantasy novels behind the “Game of Thrones” television series, made a plea to raise or eliminate New Mexico’s $50 million annual limit on the state’s tax incentive for film production.
At an hour-long forum about New Mexico’s film industry, Martin sat alongside Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 who this week announced she would seek to expand tax incentives for film and television production and look for ways to encourage the construction of new production studio space.
Martin described a cutthroat competitive environment of the film industry, and his own budding efforts to attract more movie production to Santa Fe by offering low-cost office space at a building provided to him posthumously by an estate. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen currently are utilizing the building through Martin’s nonprofit Stagecoach Foundation.
“We’re in competition with Texas and Arizona and Utah,” Martin said. “How do we compete? ... Obviously the incentives are a big part of it. We have to get rid of this (state tax incentive) cap.”
Martin, a longtime Santa Fe resident and author of fantasy novels behind the “Game of Thrones” television series, made a plea to raise or eliminate New Mexico’s $50 million annual limit on the state’s tax incentive for film production.
At an hour-long forum about New Mexico’s film industry, Martin sat alongside Congresswoman Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 who this week announced she would seek to expand tax incentives for film and television production and look for ways to encourage the construction of new production studio space.
Martin described a cutthroat competitive environment of the film industry, and his own budding efforts to attract more movie production to Santa Fe by offering low-cost office space at a building provided to him posthumously by an estate. Filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen currently are utilizing the building through Martin’s nonprofit Stagecoach Foundation.
“We’re in competition with Texas and Arizona and Utah,” Martin said. “How do we compete? ... Obviously the incentives are a big part of it. We have to get rid of this (state tax incentive) cap.”
