New Mexico's most famous outlaw got a break yesterday when the jury found Billy the Kid not guilty of murder.

The verdict didn't help Billy all that much — he was already dead. But as the actor playing his corpse sat (or stood) around the courtroom, the jurors said he was a victim of a media conspiracy to paint him as a bad guy.

That was the gist of a short film about the trial of Billy the Kid that students and faculty from the film program at Central New Mexico Community College shot Friday as part of Film and Media Day at the Capitol.

The event, hosted by IATSE 480, the local film technicians' union, and the New Mexico Film Office, took place in the vacant lot across from Kaune Food Town on Paseo de Peralta and Old Santa Fe Trail.

Visitors had an opportunity to watch demonstrations on make-up and stunt work, see the filming of four public service announcements for regional charity groups, sit in on lectures aimed at film students, and watch — or participate as extras — in the Billy the Kid movie.

Bets Weaver, coordinator for Film and Media Day, said that while a couple of professional actors anchored the Billy the Kid film, most of the cast was culled from the crowd. The extras were put in period wardrobe and make-up, she said.

Weaver acknowledged the event — which drew several hundred film students, among others — was intended to not only draw attention to the vibrancy of the film industry in New Mexico, but to remind lawmakers that extensive training is going on to prepare young New Mexicans for a future career in the business.

"A lot of students went over to the Capitol to ask legislators, 'What kind of career are we training for if the film incentives are taken away?' " she said.

She was referring to Senate Bill 235, a measure that would put a $2 million cap on production expenditures for individual film and television projects. The bill was introduced last week by Senate Finance Committee Vice Chairman John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who two years ago introduced a similar bill, which was tabled.

Smith's efforts follow on the heels of a more drastic bill introduced by Rep. Dennis J. Kintigh, R-Roswell, that would have eliminated all film incentives. That bill was tabled more than a week ago.

At least 40 states around the country now have film incentives, and since the governor made filmmaking an anchoring component of his economic development package in 2003, roughly 165 movie and television projects have been shot in this state, including this year's Oscar-nominated Crazy Heart.

Despite film-industry supporters' argument that the movie industry pays dividends for taxpayers, questions abound in various states as to whether such incentives turn a profit.

Still, to bolster its case, on Friday state film office representatives distributed a letter from actor/director/producer Robert Redford extolling the virtues of New Mexico's film incentives and suggesting that if the incentives are capped, "this would devastate the state's economy. Thousands would become unemployed."

Last May, Redford announced that he would initiate Sundance in New Mexico to offer filmmaking training programs for Native Americans and Hispanics. But there has been little reported progress on that project, which is housed at the historic Los Luceros ranch in Acalde.

Politics aside, Friday's festivities were aimed at entertainment, and bystanders got an unexpected kick out of watching some film crew members band together to move an unoccupied car that was blocking the parking lot for the event.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.