Whatever happened to the idea of TAMIU studios?

Eddie Macon's Run remains the all-time classic "Laredo" movie

In 2010, as the local political races hit full throttle, City council district VI candidate Emilio Martinez unveiled his secret weapon. Martinez had the vision of turning TAMIU into a full fledged film school and using the city's resources to attract the motion picture industry to our historic part of the country. Needless to say, Martinez did not win and his idea was never really embraced by anyone.

The simplest reason for this would be that : such things are not done in Laredo. This idea was so "outside the box" to borrow an overused phrase, that it actually was beyond the ability of most city leaders to even conceive of such a notion. Instead, maquinitas, talk of gambling racinos and how to put "more heads in beds" continued to rule the day. Interestingly, even the ominous Eagle Ford Shale was but a oil splat on the horizon.

While creative Laredoans would have truly welcomed even the most modest effort to try to bring film enthusiasts to our area, not everyone was disappointed. One Laredoan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that his favorite motion picture masterpiece would be preserved as the film most readily associated with the Gateway City. Thus, to this day, Keyrose's frequent posting of  clips from "Eddie's Macon Run" remains one of the few ties that bind Laredo to the magic that is Hollywood.