‘Set’ against Cynthia
Production crews hit her $$ ‘Nix’
Cynthia Nixon’s platform for governor is a show stopper to these furious film and TV industry workers who used to share a set with her.
The “Sex and the City” actress and Democratic candidate for governor was blasted by production crews and small businesses after she bashed a big film-industry tax break that helped earn her fat paychecks.
“If you had your way, you would bring production to a halt, causing long-term damage to the New York economy, and more personally, you would take away our livelihoods,” 40 vendors and crew workers with New Yorkers for TV & Film Jobs wrote in an open letter to Nixon defending the $420 million program.
Twenty-four of them worked with Nixon on the original “SATC” show or the two spinoff movies. One signer, Martha Pinson, was a script supervisor on the series and other productions, including “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit” and several “Law & Order” episodes. Another, Aysha Wallace, has been a costume designer and shopper for shows like “Orange Is the New Black” on top of her work for Nixon’s HBO show.
The two “SATC” movies got a combined $13.6 million in tax credits and subsidies from the state. The tax credit wasn’t available when the TV show aired.
Nixon has suggested overhauling the program. She told the Buffalo News last month that the tax credit “doesn’t merit the investment” and questioned if the “enormous expenditure of money is making a significant enough dif- ference in production to justify it.”
The tax credit covers the costs of front-line film crews and other hires but not salaries for actors, writers and directors.
“Your outburst shows that you are completely disconnected from the working men and women who do the real work on the sets and are the true beneficiaries of the program,” the angry vendors and crew wrote to Nixon.
Nixon said she understands how important the film and TV industry is to New York.
“I am not now, nor have I ever, proposed ending the Film Production Tax Credit, or doing anything that would jeopardize the goodpaying jobs it helps sustain, but I am proposing that we examine reforming the program so that the money is actually going toward creating good New York salaries, not just lining the pockets of big film studios in Los Angeles,” she said in a statement.
“We need to prioritize the money going to the jobs of the people who make film and TV happen on the ground, whether in the camera department or electrics or wardrobe or props or catering, and also using our film and tax incentives in a more proactive way to support independent productions and those directed by women and people of color,” she said.