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Las Cruces Days: Making Sundance Grand Prize-Winner In the Summers Using New Mexico Tax Credits
Sasha Calle and Lío Mehiel in In the Summers Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers is a film of moments spread across years—moments quiet and seemingly insignificant, as well as larger events whose significance is downplayed at the time only to be properly understood years later. It’s the story of two teenage girls who, each summer, are sent by their mom to spend a few weeks with their charismatic yet irresponsible father, whose ability to love and be a parent is continually undermined by his addictions to drugs and alcohol. Winner of the Grand Jury U.S. Dramatic Competition prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, In the Summers finds a memorable setting for a film about summer idylls in Las Cruces, New Mexico. As our young protagonists age into young adulthood across summers spent playing in backyard swimming pools and pool halls, eating in taco joints and going on nighttime desert drives, the locations in this city of over 100,000—New Mexico’s second largest—provide a poetic backdrop and, for viewers who haven’t seen this city on screen before, a sense of discovery.
According to the New Mexico film office, In the Summers employed 50 background actors, 40 crew members and 21 actors. The film’s production was also enabled by the state’s tax credit. (New Mexico offers a refundable credit of 15 percent for nonresident below-the-line and 25 percent for resident above- and below-the-line, and shooting in Las Cruces made the production eligible for an additional “rural uplift” credit of up to 10 percent.) Below, one of the film’s producers, Daniel Tantalean, answers questions about the choice of Las Cruces and working with local crew.
Filmmaker: Was the location of Las Cruces chosen for In the Summers because of the script, or was the script designed around Las Cruces for production reasons?
Tantalean: Surprisingly, when I read In the Summers in 2019, Las Cruces was a character in the script. Writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza did a lot of research on where she wanted to set the film and eventually settled on Las Cruces. It’s one of those really fantastic moments when we were able to give the director what they wanted and also benefit from a production standpoint, because not only does New Mexico have fantastic tax incentives, there are additional tax breaks for shooting in Las Cruces. Local crew was beyond excited to work on the film, especially because it was highlighting Las Cruces and was an intimate story that they could truly relate to. That is something to really ponder and re-evaluate as an industry when working with local crew. A lot of tax incentives get [productions to choose] smaller places like Las Cruces to be a placeholder for places like Texas, Arizona or Mexico. So, we got incredible energy and dedication from our local crew and the Las Cruces film office knowing that we were actually building Las Cruces as a character.
Filmmaker: As a lower-budget film, how was it crewing up, given that New Mexico has so much studio production going on? Did you find a crew locally or bring in from Los Angeles?
Tantalean: In the Summers did face challenges in a lot of ways with crewing up, and we got lucky that we got so many amazing local crew. There were a few overlapping productions happening in Las Cruces and then a much bigger budget Disney film happening in Albuquerque at the same time we were filming. Even though Albuquerque is robust when it comes to production, I learned New Mexico in general is having a hard time keeping up with the demand, as there isn’t enough labor for the number of productions that are shooting there.
The extra challenge is that Las Cruces is three hours away from the main film hubs, so if you are not talking to the film office and getting a line producer on the ground early to have discussions with crew and getting your dates in order, other productions could swoop in and lock up some very valuable crew members, many who also, for bigger productions, end up traveling for work outside Las Cruces. We ended up bringing crew from LA and New York, but mostly New York, such as our amazing A.D., production designer, D.P., gaffer and our main on-set producers, but we only functioned effectively by having a great local crew.
We were blessed to get amazing artists in Javier Gonzalez, Josh Bleiweiss, Ryan Robson, Lorus Allen, Cami Walker, Josh Padilla and Julian Cavett—crucial department heads who knew good hard workers who showed a lot of promise and commitment to the production. Sometimes, as productions coming from LA and New York, we see people as easily replaceable, and we don’t value the expertise of the local crew. Local crew not only guide in hiring valuable members for the film but have really amazing relationships with the community, and that helps get your film made. Our location manager Julian had incredible relationships with local businesses and institutions, and he made his shoestring budget do the impossible with the crazy amount of locations we had for a low-budget film. Our art team, Lorus and Cami, knew so much about the infrastructure of filming in Las Cruces and what we needed to make this film. They helped strategically plan how we need to get building materials and the right set dressing that just weren’t available in Las Cruces, and that were not only crucial for the artistic quality of the film but for safety on set. Our line producer Javier and UPM Josh came through big time when a flu hit our set and we lost 25 percent of our team for a few days. They were able to help fill those gaps with effective day players for a few days at the drop of a hat. And our prop master Ryan—this man is a magician. I will never understand how he took so little money and never lost the core of the storytelling through the props he provided us.
Filmmaker: Finally, what role did the state’s tax incentives play in shooting there? Did you borrow against your credit and, in general, how have you found that process?
Tantalean: Luckily, what brought us to Las Cruces was the story. It was a lucky break that Las Cruces had these tax incentives because, with the way things are currently in the industry, if as an indie film you are not shooting in a state with tax incentives or rebates, there is little chance from a financial point of view that you will be able to film there.
It’s a reality that I hate because it is an unnecessary limitation that I worry does not really benefit the state or the crew within those states as much as we hope or are told it does. And In the Summers did borrow against the tax credit. I find borrowing against the credit a necessary evil during these times because private equity has been very dry over the last several years. Speaking as a first-time feature producer hoping to reach other first-time feature producers: Please do your homework on these deals. Talk to other producers and really find out what the interest rates should be on these deals. Ask line producers and fellow indie producers for recommendations for companies offering film financing, and do not be afraid to walk away from deals that stand to hurt the film more than help it long-term.
