MAJOR PRODUCTION
‘Mayor of Kingstown’ has injected $90M into Western Pa.’s economy to date, Shapiro administration announces
It’s good to be the mayor — really good, apparently.
The Paramount+ series “Mayor of Kingstown” created more than 3,000 jobs and injected more than $90 million into the region’s economy during its first goaround in Western Pennsylvania, according to a Monday news release from the state Department of Community and Economic Development.
“Mayor of Kingstown” is a Taylor Sheridan-created crime drama starring Jeremy Renner as a power broker trying to maintain some semblance of peace in the fictional Kingstown, Mich. After shooting season one in Canada, production moved to the Pittsburgh area for its sophomore outing.
Cameras began rolling on the third season of “Mayor of Kingstown” in January, with local filming expected to continue into May.
“When a TV or film production comes to Pennsylvania it’s a huge driver for the local economy,” DCED Secretary Rick Siger said in the release. “The Shapiro administration is thrilled that a major production like ‘The Mayor of Kingstown’ recognizes the incredible locations, people and amenities we have in Pennsylvania.”
The series has shot in Highland Park, the Strip District, the North Side and Millvale, among other locations.
Monday’s release also revealed that “Mayor of Kingstown” had been granted $27 million in tax credits through Pennsylvania’s film incentive program, which offers a 25% rebate to productions spending at least 60% of their total budgets in the commonwealth. Mr. Siger also said that the state’s film incentive “makes us more competitive in attracting more well- known productions like this one,” referring to “Mayor of Kingstown.”
Pennsylvania’s film incentive program “generated total productions of more than $379 million,” resulting in more than 8,500 jobs statewide during the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to DCED.
Pittsburgh Film Office Director Dawn Keezer said in a statement that the state’s film tax credit “is a vital part of Western Pennsylvania’s diverse economy” and has made a “$2.5 billion impact” on the local economy over the past three decades.
Monday’s press release did not indicate what has been or will be done with the additional $73 million available to projects that want to film in the Keystone State.
The incentive will replenish once Pennsylvania’s 2024-25 budget is completed.
The Ohio Department of Development recently broke down how the $44 million in tax credits it handed out during the 2023-24 fiscal year were allocated. Ohio’s film incentive is currently capped at $50 million per fiscal year and will increase to $75 million starting in the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Pennsylvania’s film incentive had been capped at $70 million until an extra $30 million was added, starting in the 2022-23 fiscal year. A few local lawmakers and industry advocates have been pushing to substantially increase the state’s $100 million ceiling in order to be competitive with surrounding states — including New Jersey, which dolls out $430 million in annual film tax credits, and West Virginia, which has an uncapped film incentive program.
DCED’s Monday release did confirm that Gino Anthony Pesi, a Pittsburgh native and seasoned filmmaker, is now the state’s film commissioner. In that newly created position, Mr. Pesi will lead the Pennsylvania Film Office — which is part of DCED — and oversee the state’s film tax credit program
“I am passionately dedicated to continuing to grow the film and television industry in Pennsylvania by building upon and improving our incentives to increase economic development,” Mr. Pesi said in the release.
Last year’s concurrent SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes forced production shutdowns and delays throughout the entertainment industry and left the Pittsburgh film community wondering when work would resurface in the region.
Independent drama “The Gymnast” shot here from Nov. 29 to Dec. 22, but nothing else of note came through the Steel City from spring 2023 through the return of “Mayor of Kingstown” last month.
Prior to that production drought, season two of the Amazon Prime Video series “American Rust” shot all over Western Pennsylvania from November 2022 through April 2023. Amazon recently dubbed season two as “American Rust: Broken Justice” and announced plans to drop all 10 episodes on March 28.