He lives in Santa Fe, not Los Angeles or New York, and has been able to make a living on film projects here in New Mexico. At least he has until recently. Film companies stopped coming to New Mexico about 1997 and instead started traveling to Canada, Utah or Arizona. So, like thousands of other workers whose livelihoods depend on filmmaking, Johnson has had to look for work out of state. But two years ago the bottom just sort of dropped out of the film industry in New Mexico.
Numbers help tell the story.
According to the New Mexico Film Office, in the 1993 fiscal year, which was a banner year for filmmaking in New Mexico, the state logged 1,115 production days. By fiscal year 1997, the lowest point in a 10-year cycle in filmmaking here, that number had slumped to 482 production days. In fiscal year 1993, there were 95,417 man-days worked in New Mexico on film and TV projects. But by fiscal year 1997, that number had fallen to only 13,505 man-days. When the industry slows down here, they have to leave.