Celebrating New Mexico’s Potemkin Industry

Yesterday was “New Mexico Film & TV Day” at the Roundhouse, but rather than a clear-eyed discussion and analysis of the taxpayer-provided goodies state politicians shower on Hollywood, the event served as a networking get-together for rent-seekers and a rally against worker freedom.

The New Mexico Film Office was on hand — distributing stickers and temporary tattoos — as was New Mexico Women in Film, the film program of Santa Fe Community College, the Digital Arts and Technology Academy, Nob Hill Studios, the New Mexico Italian Film and Culture Festival, UNM’s Interdisciplinary Film and Digital Media Program, Mitchell & Presley Talent Group, the Institute of American Indian Arts, and the New Mexico Post Alliance.

The day’s lowlight was an obnoxious, 20-minute harangue by Patrick Fabian (pictured above). The actor, who plays “Howard Hamlin” in “Better Call Saul,” told a fawning crowd of union members and activists that he wouldn’t have clothes on his back or a car to drive if it weren’t for the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. After all, corporations are “unaccountable” and only care about “the bottom line.”

Fabian cited dodgy stats about the impact of right-to-work laws in Oklahoma and Wisconsin, and warned that New Mexico would engage in a “race to the bottom” if it passed a RTW law. He also claimed that there was “vibrant production” in New Mexico, a state that is becoming a “top-tier destination for entertainment.” That’s nonsense, of course, as the Foundation has documented again and again and again.

One of Fabian’s statements was beyond dispute, though. He called himself a “knucklehead actor.” No argument there.