Santa Fe Film and Digital Media Council

FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA COUNCIL JUNE 3, 2025 10:00 AM MEETING VIRTUALLY 1. CALL TO ORDER A meeting of the Film and Digital Media Council was called to order by Chair Dillingham, at 10:04 am, on June 3, 2025 and was held virtually. 2. ROLL CALL MEMBERS PRESENT Gay Dillingham, Chair Anna Darrah Robert Dennis Dezbaa Jacqueline Frank Harvey Kahn Dr. James Wysong Allessandra Dobrin Dyanna Taylor Jaydin Martinez Mark Glaser (1 vacancy) Alternate Members: Lisette Bailey Barbara Bentree Talia Pura Max Walukas James Cressanthis MEMBERS NOT PRESENT Jason Ordaz, excused Dr. Elizabeth Stahmer, excused Siena Bergt, excused Tara Tovarek, excused OTHERS PRESENT Johanna Nelson, Director, Economic Development Department and Interim Director of the Affordable Housing Department Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 1  Casey Dalbor, Economic Development Department Jennifer LaBar-Tapia, Santa Fe Film Office Director Chip Conley, Founder, Modern Elder Academy Tom Regan, Studio Director and Board Member of the New Mexico Film Foundation Elizabeth Martin, Stenographer 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA MOTION A motion was made by Ms. Taylor, seconded by Ms. Pura, to approve the agenda as presented. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: Ms. Darrah, yes; Mr. Dennis, yes; Dezbaa, yes; Dr. Wysong, yes; Ms. Taylor, yes; Ms. Frank, yes; Mr. Kahn, yes; Ms. Dobrin, yes; Mr. Martinez, yes; Mr. Glaser, yes; Ms. Bailey, yes; Ms. Pura, yes; Mr. Walukas, yes; Chair Dillingham, yes. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM MAY 8, 2025 FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA COUNCIL Chair Dillingham said the word inventors needs to be changed to investors. MOTION A motion was made by Ms. Frank, seconded by Ms. Taylor, to approve the minutes as amended. VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows: 5. UPDATES Mr. Dalbor said our new Director of Community Development has joined us - Elisa Montoya. Chair Dillingham said congratulations on your new job. Ms. Montoya said she had been in this role for five weeks. She is so happy to be able to give back to this City she loves it so much. Ms. Montoya gave her background and shared her screen for a presentation on the Community Development Department. A. SANTA FE FILM OFFICE UPDATE Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 2  Ms. LaBar-Tapia said she reached out to Jemma and Friends, who is highlighting Santa Fe due to the success of Ransom Canyon highlighting film in New Mexico. She will share our data when we have it. She is fresh off the Film Conference hosted by the State Film Office. It was a huge success and was sold out. It was held at the Clyde Hotel in downtown Albuquerque and was a one-day event. Dark Winds participated in a panel. The day before the conference, there was a meeting of Film Liaisons and a meeting of the education institutions. Ms. Pura said there were 500 people there. Ms. LaBar-Tapia said we continue to have a good relationship with the State Film Office. Once a month, she and the liaisons for Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Las Cruces meet with Steve Graham. If there is anything you would like her to bring up let her know. We are in a partnership with them to put a film kiosk at the Santa Fe Airport. There is one now at the Albuquerque Airport. They are going to share the cost with us. We are working on a Film Museum temporary exhibit at the New Mexico Museum. If you know a good film historian or have artifacts for the display let her know. It will cover film from 1898 to the present. The Locations Directory is getting close. She is moving offices again. She is in the Convention Center now and will be moving to the Georgia Street offices. We will have an open house at the end of June. Ms. La-Bar Tapia said we need to clean up our web page with head shots and bios of the new members of the Council. Please send that information to Casey. Mr. Cressanthis said he attended the Film Conference and it was great and well attended. 6. PRESENTATIONS A. MODERN ELDER ACADEMY FILM FESTIVAL AT SADDLEBACK RANCH Mr. Conley gave an overview of the Modern Film Academy Film Festival, including the location at Saddleback Ranch, the use of the location for films, the opening of the Academy a year ago, and their Film Festival. Chair Dillingham asked if there is a topic this year. Mr. Conley said mid-life transition, purpose, wisdom and longevity. We love local films. If any of you have films we would love to talk with you. Dezbaa suggested Road To Everywhere. It is about men in mid-life crises. She plays the daughter. Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 3  Mr. Conley said Vince Kadlubek will be a speaker at the Festival. Ms. Dobrin said she and Anna both were involved in Meow Wolf originally. Mr. Martinez asked if there would be any opportunities for emerging film makers to participate. Mr. Conely said to email him. Mr. Conley said if anyone knows anyone connected to Dark Winds, we would love to connect with them. Dezbaa said she can help with that. There was continued discussion around the Film Festival and a possible tour of the site. Chair Dillingham said we would love to sit and talk with you. B. UPDATES ON THE NEW MEXICO FILM FOUNDATION AND THE STUDIO @ WESST. Mr. Regan said WESST is a nonprofit that helps small businesses have a presence throughout the State. There is an incubator building in Albuquerque inside the studio space. His main push is toward independent film makers. The studio is part of the revenue stream to WESST. It will be an opportunity for local independent documentary film makers. We are building a new recording studio with $1.2 million in capital outlay funds. There will be a 1,000 square foot music studio for films. He is also the Board President of the New Mexico Film Foundation. Chair Dillingham asked if they are a 501c3. Mr. Regan said yes. We are updating our application for that. We take a 5% to 7% cut. There was continued discussion about the music studio, the use for film scores with Dolby, a Gala Fundraiser on October 11th and the location of the studio. Chair Dillingham thanked Mr. Regan for his presentation and said let’s stay in touch. 7. DISCUSSION ITEMS A. FILM AND DIGITAL MEDIA WORKING GROUP UPDATES Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 4  Government Affairs Mr. Dennis reported on the Film Conference, which he attended, and how important it is to work with the Legislature during the pre-session. The Motion Pictures Association Vice President talked about that and about bringing a Memorial to the Legislature regarding the Loan Fund. Brian Ortiz is working on language to study the effect of re-opening the Loan Fund on the film economy and the community. The Texas Senate Bill 22 had a hearing in the Senate. The House Bill was pushed aside. The Senate Bill passed. It increases the Texas incentives by $150 million in the form of grants around employing Texans. The bill allocates the money for 10 years. Mr. Dennis described the details of the Texas incentive. Chair Dillingham said it is a very rich program and they are a big competitor of ours. The revenue is from oil and gas. We share the Permian Basin with them. Mr. Dennis said you apply for grants for your production and get checks to offset expenses by reimbursement. Above The Line Ms. Darrah said we are having an Above The Line event on June 20th at Los Golondrinas. We are having breakfast thanks to the City and the Santa Fe Film Office. We will be taking a tour of the site. You do need to sign up for the event and RSVP. Mr. Dalbor said 113 tickets out of 150 have been RSVP’d for. Council members still need to RSVP. He will put the link in the Chat. Education Dr. Wysong said the back lot project is moving forward. At the next meeting we will have a time line for the ribbon cutting. We met with Netflix about their back lot and they shared what they learned on their project. Our film position is still open. We will be re-posting that. It is a full-time faculty position. Dr. Wysong reported that NYC Tish will be back in July. He had a great meeting with South Illinois University. He would like to give a shout out to Robert for putting us together. We are looking ahead to the fall and our dual credit program in local high schools and Raton High School. Post Production Ms. Dobrin said she had no report, but will be meeting soon. Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 5 8. MATTERS FROM THE COMMITTEE A. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR Chair Dillingham said we will be sending out a poll on a date for the next meeting as it falls on July 1st. We did the tour of Los Luceros. It is a great site for filming. The tour was more focused on what we cannot do as opposed to what we can do out there. They said they are open to film people out there, but there are parameters. It is an incredible site. 9. MATTERS FROM STAFF Ms. Nelson said we have a lot going on. We are in support mode of fellow staff around the lease for the Pete’s Place site. We are having conversations with Guadalupe Street businesses who are effected by the construction. We are excited about the Film Finance event that is coming up. It will cover how we connect resources to this industry and what are the gaps. We are doing a lot of work with creative start- ups. The Regional Development Corporation has the micro-grants process going on now. Spread the word. You will see, in her report, that there are lots of events going on and coming up. We began our small business navigator program last week. It is about connecting with an individual person. We are moving forward on our micro-grants as well. Mr. Dalbor said the Canyon Road Walk is happening tomorrow. Chair Dillingham asked the new members of the Council to introduce themselves. Each new member introduced themselves. 10. MATTERS FROM THE PUBLIC Candice said she runs Catharsis Media, an internship and apprenticeship program for film and television. She will put her information in the Chat. 11. NEXT MEETING Chair Dillingham said this has been a great meeting. A. JULY 1, 2025, 10:00 AM TO NOON 12. ADJOURN There being no further business before the Council, the meeting Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 6 adjourned at 12:00 noon. Gay Dillingham, Chair _ Elizabeth Martin Eliz abeth Martin (Nov 21, 2025 15:44:31 MST) Elizabeth Martin, Stenographer Film and Digital Media Council June 3, 2025 Page 7