Albuquerque a mini Hollywood? Film productions soar in Duke City
Albuquerque is on track to end 2019 with about 50 film location agreements around the city
Albuquerque is on track to end 2019 with about 50 film location agreements around the city
Albuquerque is on track to end 2019 with about 50 film location agreements around the city
Television and film companies promised jobs and committed to using the land of enchantment as a place for shooting scenes of some of your favorite films and TV shows.
So where are they shooting, and what are they shooting?
Production companies can be really tight-lipped about what they're working on. They are filming all over town, in schools, and public places; paying to rent the space. Target 7 obtained public records from Albuquerque Public Schools and the city. Those records revealed what's being filmed.
"We've always had everything it takes to be a mini Hollywood," said film liaison Amber Dodson with the Albuquerque Film Office.
Between January and July of this year, about twenty different productions were shot in the Duke City ranging from commercials, smash hits on Netflix, and feature films with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
"There's one superstar location and that is the railyards," said Dodson. "Directors and producers love this property. It can be dressed to look creepy and absolutely horrifying or it can look like an architectural gem from the future."
Better Call Saul, Briaripatch, and Army of the Dead are just a few examples of the dozens of productions filmed at the railyards.
The post-apocalyptic zombie netflix series Daybreak had a 143-day shoot at Highland Park.
Each commercial, show, and film shot in the city limits in the first half of 2019 racked up a bill of almost $143,000.
"The location fees that productions pay us for our city locations most often than not, they go to the general fund, the general fund of the city of Albuquerque, so that covers all sorts of things for our city and indeed helps our city," Dodson said.
Facilities at Albuquerque Public Schools were also film-set hotspots.
Highland High School has been a major film set for the Netflix zombie series Daybreak.
Huge stars have walked the halls of Rio Grande High School, where Robert de Niro, Morgan Freeman, and Tommy Lee Jones filmed the movie The Comeback Trail.
Angelina Jolie has been working on the film Those Who Wish Me Dead at the Berna Facio Training Center.
Production companies for these shows and films wrote checks adding up to nearly $60,000 to Albuquerque Public Schools.
The district's spokesperson Monica Armenta says they don't make any kind of profit when films shoot on their properties.
Armenta says the money pays for things like, the electricity used on set and paying janitors to clean-up when shoots wrap up.
There were 31 film contracts in the city and at APS for the first half of 2019.
The Albuquerque film office says it is estimating finishing off the year with 50 film location agreements, and anticipates having even more in 2020.