About 220 people attended a conference Friday to discuss the state's film industry.
UNM held the New Mexico Media Industries Conference in the SUB.
Attendees eager to learn about the state's growing film industry attended free classes throughout the day.
Some of the classes included Digital Media 101, supercomputing and a question-and-answer session on the New Mexico film rebate program.
Jennifer Schwalenberg, deputy director of the state's Film Office, said New Mexico is the only state to give out tax rebates to film studios without placing a minimum spending requirement.
"A $100 million studio film can come into the state, or you know, the college student making a $5,000 film can get the rebate," she said. "Ours is an even playing field, which is great."
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Schwalenberg said movie studios must meet requirements to receive the rebate, including no pornography.
CNM student Kenneth Kniffen said he attended the conference because he was interested in finding a job in the New Mexico film industry.
"I came over here to just get some more information on the subject of animation," Kniffen said. "I am in the animation lab over there (at CNM)."
Carolyn Miller, a writer on strike, attended the conference.
Miller taught a class about the strike and spoke about the problems with the film industry.
She said her writing background was in TV but she recently started working in interactive media.
Miller said she spent most of winter break protesting in Los Angeles.
"We are asked to be on the picket line for something like, in the beginning, 20 hours a week and now 12 hours a week," she said. "So we have responsibilities to help out with the strike."
Miller said the strike hasn't affected her.
"But my fellow writers," she said, "a lot of them have been very seriously affected because they can't write. You can't even have a meeting with a producer right now. So, you're really restricted on what you can do."
Ed Angel, director of the UNM Art Research Technology Science lab and chairman for the Media Industries Conference, said the purpose of the conference was to educate people.
"The key thing that everybody has started to see now is that we have to focus on education," Angel said. "Movies are coming in. Game companies are coming in. Sony Imageworks is coming in, and we need the educated workforce."
