Tom Ragan’s grand ‘through line’: Being a voice for the oppressed, suppressed in NM’s film industry

The award-winning project pairs Holocaust survivors with students, who listen to their stories over the course of a year and create a staged production that bears witness to a life.

Tom Ragan, new president of the New Mexico Film Foundation board, produced and directed the Witness Theater project in New York City, and he says that work is part of a theme for him.

“Being a straight white male in a position where I’m able to be a voice for those other voices that are typically oppressed or suppressed has been a through line for me.”

The pattern has continued, he says, in his job as studio director at Women’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Team, or WESST, an Albuquerque-based nonprofit that provides training, consulting and loans to women, people of color and low-income entrepreneurs.

Ragan’s job involves renting out WESST’s film and TV production studio — which he calls a “diamond in the rough” — for smaller independent productions. The studio provides services to WESST clients at a discounted rate, but is open to the general public.

Ragan’s ads for WESST have won a Telly award, which honors excellence in video and television production.

Ragan believes New Mexico can better support its independent filmmakers and lure more dollars by providing “above-the-line” talent, such as writers, producers, directors and actors. That will be among his goals at the Film Foundation.

How do you see the Film Foundation promoting independent filmmaking?

I believe our programming is really important in building education … that empowers what our local talent can do. When we look at the film industry here right now, the big budget films that are coming in, they’re union jobs that come through. They do employ a lot of our local talent, but it’s all grips, gaffers, background actors. It’s the gears in the system. But those production companies, they bring their producers, their directors, their writers from out of state. They’re not from here. If we have both sides, where independent filmmakers are thriving and the big-budget films are coming through and bringing a lot of money, it’s only going to make our film industry in New Mexico more sustainable.

What are you proud of?

Honestly, the thing I’m really proud of is the culmination of work I did in New York. I had a number of wait staff jobs and things like that, but I got to a point in 2017 where I was solely self-employed doing freelance video production. So being able to do that with a variety of organizations — UN Women, NFL Player Engagement, USA Today. Just being self-employed and having to keep both mindsets of running a business and selling a service, but even after I do that, I still have to produce and create and develop these digital content pieces.

What’s your favorite movie?

I would say my favorite movie of all time is “Back to the Future.” For me, it was the way that story was told, using all elements, especially if you go back and watch and just listen. It’s a musical ensemble tied with the visuals. To me, that’s where filmmaking turns into this fun aspect of using all of these elements to tell this story.

What’s a difficulty you’ve had in your career?

The industry in New York is obviously different from the way it is here in New Mexico. If I’m not on top of it with my clients, there’s a thousand people behind me who are just as good or even better. Always being on was the key aspect. When you’re freelance, especially when there’s someone just behind me who wants that job, if I don’t respond to an email in an hour or two, I could lose that (business).

What are your goals in your WESST job?

My initial goal was just to get people in here. Something that kept happening was when people would walk through that door, the first thing they would say is, ‘Wow. I didn’t know that space was here.’ So that was my first obstacle to get over. I’ve had this goal in mind to create programs that make it where people can use this space, and it’s generating revenue.

What’s been your favorite part of the job?

I think one of the most rewarding things was to create an … eight-week summer enrichment program. Essentially, we brought in six high school students, and I did some video training with them. We matched them up with six different WESST clients to produce video for their small business, at no cost to the client. One of the students said something along the lines of, ‘I wasn’t thinking of video as a job or a career opportunity, but now I am.’ And that almost makes me cry right now. Having that one-on-one kind of impact is really rewarding.

What do you do in your free time?

I love to play basketball and volleyball. I need that exercise and competition in my life. I have a twin brother who’s stationed in Nebraska right now. He has three boys. It’s always fun when I have some time off, Friday nights or weekends, and we’re able to play video games online together.

Whom do you look up to?

I look up to my grandfather. He passed away five years ago. He was very much a DIY kind of guy. He was a mechanic, he was a carpenter, he could do anything. He would see something and figure out how it works. He would even take things apart and put them back together just to know how it works and be able to fix it. I think that’s been something I’ve always aspired to do as well. He was a very kind and loving old man. The time I got to spend with him was amazing.