Variety: Netflix is getting a steal on a huge TV and film production facility in Albuquerque, N.M.
Netflix estimates it will make a total capital investment of about $30 million to acquire and improve ABQ Studios, located south of the city’s center, under a deal the streamer announced last week, according to documents filed with the City of Albuquerque.
5 comments:
Hooray! My dad actually sent me an article from the Albuquerque Journal about this Netflix buyout. This is such fantastic news for Albuquerque and New Mexico as a whole. This article kind of paints Albuquerque in a poor light; the net loss on this studio is HUGE, but when you weigh it against how much money New Mexico will get when Netflix starts filming in the state again it hardly matters. When I was in high school, New Mexico was at the peak of filmmaking. It was an exciting time, especially since Breaking Bad filmed at my school. But you could tell that the city was buzzing. Everything was more busy and vibrant, and it felt like ABQ was really prospering. Then, our government got the bright idea to up the taxes on filming, so much so, that it became cheaper to film in CA or NV, so no one came anymore. I am so excited to return to an Albuquerque which is alive with filmmaking again.
It's really cool to see the studio that hosted breaking bad go on to Netflix. While it is sad to see that a big studio like that collapsed in valuation so quickly from 2007 to 2010, I think that this spells only good news for the future of televison and streaming content as a whole. Netflix has been ramping up their production speed of original content bit by bit in the past few years and this new development makes me excited. With this investment in an established soundstage space,Netflix has removed for itself the cost of renting out spaces and even perhaps a lot of the cost of building the sets themselves, considering this complex might have its own shop or set of shops to hold movie/tv sets onsite. I'm also excited about Netflix's pledge to spend 1 billion dollars on original content in the next ten years, which makes me excited for the future!
It’s a really interesting time for the film and tv industry right now it seems. Not only are we as a culture moving away from traditional methods, with streaming studios like Netflix and Amazon on the rise. But we also seem to be moving away from Hollywood/LA, like, physically. Maybe I’ve just been paying more attention, but it seems like the number of TV shows and movies shooting on location somewhere outside of LA has reached a high. Netflix’s acquisition of this studio seems like further evidence of this trend. There’s a lot of incentive for them in this deal, between the subsidies and the tax credits. Not to mention the decreased property value. But overall it does seem like this deal is going to help the community and the fact that Netflix has made a commitment to putting a certain amount of money back into the local economy is a huge plus.
Although this headline initially makes it seem like this is a bad deal for Albuquerque after reading through the rest of this article this seems like this will actually be very beneficial for the city itself. Even though they saved over $60 million on this deal Netflix will bring in a lot more revenue for the city through film and TV production, as well as in spending in local industries. The author writes that "The company’s move into Albuquerque will generate $24 million to $50 million in annual spending on goods and services in the area". Within two years the amount of the price cut that they got on the studio will already be put back into the local economy. Netflix has now rapidly become one of the United States' hottest TV/film producers and is constantly creating more and more hits. Bringing them in seems like a great step for a city like Albuquerque, which now may be able to become one of the filming hubs for this huge company.
It is always a good news when companies spend a whole bunch of money on investments. In this particular case, it is even better! The site of ABQ studio was a basically abandoned housing project. The money and labor that Netflix is going to throw at it means a whole new page of the history of this site and city of Albuquerque. But there's one thing that worth noticing, this buyout is also funded by the government. Netflix will receive a good number of money for the kick start purchasing of this new facility. However, the buyout is still a promising chance for the local to bring in numerous jobs, gaining extra tax income to improve infrastructures. In a grand picture, this is a good news to hear as a member of entertainment industry. Let's hope the project went well.
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