August 18, 2026 | Filed under: News
Steven Maes has seen the ebb and flow to the New Mexico film industry over the course of more than 20 years.
He began his career working in film in 2003 on the holiday film, “Three Wise Guys,” starring Tom Arnold, Eddie McClintock, Judd Nelson, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Katey Sagal and Nick Turturro.
“It was pretty low budget but that was the first thing I did in film,” Maes said.
Maes’ latest project is the second season on Netflix’s “Ransom Canyon,” which is streaming now. He worked for nearly seven months as the production illustrator and lead graphic designer. Maes and the team worked on creating the visual aspect of the “Ransom Canyon” world.
“You have to sell it,” Maes said. “One of the big things I worked on this season was the big music festival in the series. I got to design the booths, T-shirts, and banners. I began working my first day on the production.”
Over the years, Maes has seen the film industry grown in his home state and is proud to work on productions here. He says it’s important for people to show support for each production either by watching it or purchasing it.
“It is so important for New Mexico, and you know specifically Albuquerque, to have a production that runs that long because so much of the actual fabrication of sets and design is farmed out to local vendors,” Maes said. "We have a guy that we use for our T-shirts here at the coffee shop, and we just loaded him with all of the merch for the music festival. And for him that's probably two years' worth of income. I don't think people realize some of these companies are just, you know, sort of struggling, and then we come in and we give them three months' worth of work, and it sets their whole year up."
Maes has worked on every type of project, from large to microbudget, and it’s a long way from him growing up in Silver City and dreaming about being a musician and working in the entertainment industry. He worked his way up through the state’s Film Crew Advancement Program (FCAP), which provided him training to level up within the industry.
He's still amazed that he has more than 50 credits to his name with projects such as "Dark Winds," "Ghosted," "Echo 3," "End of the Road," "Outer Range," "Deputy," "Interrogation," "Messiah," "Roswell, New Mexico," "Dreamland," "Longmire," "Graves," "The Night Shift," and "In Plain Sight."
“I’ve been lucky to have the opportunity to work in my home state on productions over the years,” he said. “It’s a struggle to get into the industry. But to get the chance to work with incredible people like Vince Gilligan on ‘Breaking Bad’ and ‘Better Call Saul’ and now April Blair on ‘Ransom Canyon,’ it’s life-changing. I think New Mexico should feel very fortunate that we’ve been able to draw those kinds of projects in here. I wish we could get more. [During this slowdown,] we are reminded that New Mexicans are resilient. I feel that if someone wants to do something, they should do it. If it means going out and making your own independent film, or TikTok content, or YouTube content, do it. The pendulum always swings back.”