Thursday, June 11, 2009

Will Shows Get Boot in Los Ranchos?


Journal Staff Report
      A hearing to decide whether a municipality can stop the filming of television shows and movies at private residences is scheduled for District Court on Friday.
       Second Judicial District Judge Clay Campbell is set to hear Caruso v. Village of Los Ranchos at 2 p.m., according to court records.
       In 2007 and 2008, the home of Mark and Judy Caruso was used as a film location for 51 days, according to village records. Productions included the TV shows “Wildfire,” “Husband for Hire,” “In Plain Sight” and “Breaking Bad,” as well as the feature film “Swing Vote.”
       Mark Caruso told the Journal last year that he and his wife charged film companies about $5,000 a day to film on their property, which is on a quiet, shady street just west of Rio Grande Boulevard in the south end of Los Ranchos.
       The practice came to a stop in June 2008 when Los Ranchos Mayor Larry Abraham ordered film production companies to stop shooting in residential areas of Los Ranchos because, he said, the practice violates village zoning ordinances.
       Abraham, acting on complaints from neighbors, refused to issue a permit to a Sony film crew that wanted to shoot at a home popular among TV producers and moviemakers. Abraham said the filming amounted to a business at the home, which he said violates village ordinances.
       The TV movie Abraham blocked was “Sex and Lies in Sin City,” a biopic about Las Vegas casino legend Ted Binion.
       The Carusos sued the village.
       Friday's ruling “will have broad consequences on the entire New Mexico film industry,” Judy Caruso wrote in a news release. “This case is being monitored by the New Mexico film industry and out-of-state production companies interested in filming in our state.”
       

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