Audiovisual and film productions generated an economic impact of 300 million pesos in the state in 2024, according to the state’s Secretary of Tourism, Elisa Haro Ruiz.
This income extends to a variety of services: from hotels, shops, and restaurants to businesses linked to the film industry.
For this reason, the announcement by United States President Donald Trump to impose a 100% tariff on foreign-made productions raised concern and uncertainty in Durango, known as the land of cinema for its long history of film productions, exceeding 150 films.
“It does generate uncertainty, but we have to wait for more details and see if it materializes,” the Secretary of Tourism stated.
Elisa Haro specified that the 300 million pesos generated revenue was thanks to the 13 productions last year, most of which were for the Mexican and Latin American markets.
“We are receiving Netflix, HBO, and Prime Video. One production from last year was American, which is the one that would be affected,” he commented. “The film world is a global issue; it’s no longer focused solely on the United States,” he opined.
Luis Berumen, who has worked in production services in Durango for 27 years, believes this announcement is intended to cloud the landscape expected from American productions, primarily from platforms.
Berumen has worked for various productions and therefore believes this type of announcement is a shock to those who offer various film-related services.
Local Employment
The Secretary of Tourism, Elisa Haro, indicated that the state government has just opened a Tourism and Film Technical Training and Evaluation Center to train technical personnel so that film productions can employ local people as makeup artists, costume designers, and lighting technicians, with the goal of ensuring that these jobs remain in Durango.
She affirmed that it is a successful project that has trained more than 3,000 people, and that seeks to have increasingly qualified technical personnel so that productions can come with fewer people and employ people from the state.
“It involves certifying them in very specific areas, professions they perform on a daily basis, but which charge three to four times more during a filming session. This way, they come with only the heads, art directors, photography, and executives,” the official commented.
Yuridia Torres, who has been working in the film industry since 1996 and currently has a talent, casting, and extras agency, noted that the advantage of filming in Mexico is that it’s cheaper. “Productions are very expensive; they come to Mexico, pay what they need. They hire a Mexican production company to help them, and they benefit.”
Torres mentioned that in the state they have catering services specialized in filming, transportation services, makeup, all the art, wardrobe, and stagecraft.
Luis Berumen supported the project and said that with half of his budget, an American producer can make a film in Mexico. Working in the film industry in Durango for 27 years has allowed Luis Berumen to diversify: from working as a coordinator at Pictures Cars, to being an assistant director, to working on location, as he currently does.
“We are very concerned; we hope that for the sake of cinema, an agreement can be reached,” he commented.
When a production comes, Luis estimates that 20% of the crew is local, which impacts employment, in addition to indirect services such as restaurants, shops, and pre-production work, which involves hiring construction companies, plumbers, carpenters, and blacksmiths. “They uproot entire towns,” commented Secretary Haro.
This was the case in 2022 with the western film, The Dead Don’t Hurt, directed and produced by Oscar nominee Viggo Mortensen.
Andrei Maldonado, a filmmaker from Durango, said that the various productions have opened doors not only for extras, but also in departments such as casting and lighting. He acknowledged that these are times in which the film industry has been able to explode, as the arrival of productions has served to export workers in technical areas through contacts.
Therefore, for the filmmaker, one risk if the tariffs are applied is that they will inhibit platforms from investing in Mexico.
State Potential
The Secretary of Tourism considered it difficult to implement the tariff, as she noted that the film industry will demand filming in other countries, not only because of the competitiveness of the incentives, but also because of the locations themselves that must be used according to the films’ themes.
“Within a 100-kilometer radius, we have locations like the desert, canyons where Westerns were filmed, we have forests, valleys, and that’s very attractive to productions. We have nature in 40 minutes, and in more complex destinations, like closing a road and transporting the crew, it takes up to two or three hours,” she explained.
Yuridia Torres, who worked on productions such as the Netflix series Somos, which portrays the story of the Allende massacre in Coahuila, or the latest film directed by Viggo Mortensen, recalled that Durango began with a filming incentive program, which led to its becoming a film destination.
The state government’s scheme is based on an individual analysis of each project, explained the Secretary of Tourism.
“The support depends on the filming time, the hiring, and the room-night consumption,” commented Elisa Haro.
The incentives include savings generated from location loans, waived filming permit fees, state infrastructure loans, and arrangements for private locations.
Area of Opportunity
For Andrei Maldonado, a side effect of the arrival of professional productions has been the generation of Durango residents’ own projects.
“Durango’s contribution was as locations for North American productions, but one effect is that they can now make their own independent productions; Durango is appearing for the first time with four feature films. It’s a side effect because they go, participate, see how the industry works, and then jump into the ring.”
For this reason, for the filmmaker, these types of announcements and threats also represent an opportunity for governments to take a closer look at local productions.
Yuridia Torres lamented that if the tariffs are implemented, they will not only affect Durango, but the entire country. “It’s a way of working, a way for many people to earn a living; let’s hope it’s not a limitation.”
However, she agreed that it is an opportunity to support local products.
Source: eluniversal
