State Film Office wants eco-friendly flicks.
The official state question-"red or green?"-finally has a definitive answer. It's all verde all the time, at least as far as the New Mexico Film Office is concerned.
The Film Office is poised to launch one of the nation's first state-sanctioned "green filmmaking" programs intended
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to boost the eco-economy and minimize the environmental
impact of the state's film industry.
"It's just such a natural fit for New Mexico to be at the forefront of something like this," Film Office Director Lisa Strout
says. "This is a state that really respects the environment, and so it's only natural that we're going to be the first state to really take a stand."
According to Eric Witt, Gov. Bill Richardson's director of Media Arts and Entertainment Development, the program will encourage companies filming in New Mexico to use alternative fuels, materials and methods while utilizing local businesses to purchase everything from biodiesel to recyclable lumber.
"It's simply a matter of educating production managers and directors about what some of these practices are and then hooking them up with resources provided by local suppliers," Witt says.
The program was announced Nov. 15, the day after a study conducted by the UCLA Institute for the Environment urged the film industry to adopt more environmentally sensitive practices.
The UCLA study concludes that the film industry can leave a discernible ecological imprint on communities, but little, if any, research has been done to analyze specific effects on New Mexico.
"A lot of people are aware of the issue, but I don't really know of anyone who has studied the impacts extensively," New Mexico Wilderness Alliance spokesman Nathan Newcomer says. "That said, we're obviously supportive of the state's efforts to try and monitor the film industry's impact on the environment."
Witt says that while the environmental impact on New Mexico likely pales in comparison to film production in larger cities, the green filmmaking program allows the state to become a standard-bearer in the industry.
"We're not at the same level as Los Angeles or New York because we just don't have the same magnitude of productions," Witt says. "But why wait until there is a problem? We can show the industry ways to mitigate their impact on the environment right now."
To aid its efforts, the state is enlisting help from the Environmental Media Association (EMA), a Los Angeles-based organization that has recruited celebrities like Edward Norton, Cameron Diaz and the cast of
Will & Grace
to speak on behalf of environmental issues.
"We get calls all the time [from state governments], but New Mexico seems to be the most aggressive we've had," EMA President Debbie Levin says. "We're very excited that they are wanting to really step up and lead the way for green production."
The state Film Office is currently forming a working group-comprised of government, industry and community representatives-that will issue recommendations by the end of the year to Gov. Bill Richardson about how the program should work. Such recommendations may include additional financial incentives.
"This is still in the early stages, but I think it's going to happen really quickly," Strout says. "In fact, I think we're going to be able to see our first truly 'green' production pretty much immediately."
