Filming the State

Santa Fe Filmmaker Will Produce Radio Drama

By Emily Esterson, 11-28-06

Is the film industry really as good as it seems in New Mexico? With announcements of Steven Seagal movies being shot downtown (today's Albuquerque Journal), and the Department of Labor saying the information sector's improvement in job growth is partly due to the film industry, nary a negative word can be spoken. And hey, it's pretty fun.

Local filmmaker Jim Terr has been a tenacious, if sometimes strange, force in the locally-grown entertainment media market. Now Jim reports that one of his short films - the one he says is his best - will be produced as a two-hour radio drama for local and national broadcast on KUNM, Albuquerque's NPR affiliate, in the summer of 2007. Casting sessions were held last week, bringing in over 100 actors to auditions in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. "The Home of Katie Archer" has a familiar ring; it started life as a story about an actor struggling to make it as a full-time carpenter and part-time actor in a small New Mexico town visited often by Hollywood movies and settled by Hollywood actors.

It has since morphed into a larger tale with a historical back story. Terr writes on his website that he's already spoken to several "well-known celebrities" about cameo voices in his radio play. He's also hoping to produce the script as a full-length feature film.

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