This list isn’t about obvious choices. It’s about helping you make the best decisions — for you — about the best places to live and work as a moviemaker.
Find a livable, affordable community with enough film, TV or commercial jobs to pay the bills — and with the lowest possible cost of living, the shortest possible commute, and the least general stress. Not so you can take it easy, but so you can focus your energy on making your own projects.
To that end, make sure your new home has a thriving film scene, in terms of festivals and tax incentives and truly indie, DIY filmmaking. Make friends. Make things. Do favors. Collect favors. Help shoot a friend’s short film one weekend so that they’ll help shoot yours next month.
Expand your network as widely as you can. If you move to El Paso, Texas — which is joining our list of Big Cities for the first time — take advantage of all the resources not only in El Paso, but an hour away in Las Cruces, New Mexico — which is returning to our list of Smaller Cities and Towns.
- Moviemaker
"New Mexico hosted more than 100 productions in 2022, including AMC’s “Better Call Saul,” Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and Peacock’s “Poker Face,” and the increased demand for crew fuels NMMA’s goal to admit 1,000 students annually. Netflix, NBCUniversal, 828 Prods. and IATSE Local 480 are partners providing training and curriculum expertise and apprenticeships, while hours toward union membership will be available for students who complete apprenticeships." - Variety
"New Mexico’s government has allocated $40 million in funding for the establishment of a new film, TV and digital academy in Albuquerque dubbed the Next Generation Media Academy." - Deadline
“The New Mexico Media Arts Collective formerly known as the New Mexico Next Generation Media Academy is making headway in the Albuquerque rail yards” - Albuquerque Business First
