FORGET L.A.
N.Y.C. booming mecca for TV & film
GLENN CLOSE, Steve Buscemi, Will Smith, Brad Pitt.
Think you’re in Hollywood? Think again.
These are just some of the stars filming on soundstages and streets not very far from where you live.
TV and film production is booming in New York City, prompting local studios large and small to increase their space to keep up with the demand.
Last week, Steiner Studios — the home of “Boardwalk Empire,” “Damages,” and the second season of HBO’S “Girls” — raised the curtain on a major expansion. It will add five soundstages — 45,000 square feet — to its sprawling production facilities at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
That’s part of a larger, $95 million plan to roughly double its size within the next 18 months.
“This is New York’s business to lose,” Steiner Studios Chairman Douglas Steiner told the Daily News. “The film and televi- sion industry wants to shoot here.”
Steiner’s rival, Kaufman Astoria Studios, which spent $23 million to open a new film and TV studio in 2010, is planning to build the city’s first outdoor studio lot, a la old world Hollywood, complete with a studio gate.
Kaufman Astoria’s busy roster included “Men in Black III,” coming out on May 25.
Another major studio, Long Island City’s Silvercup Studios of “The Sopranos” and “Sex and The City” fame, is spending millions on improvements and scouting locations all over town for additional studio space.
Smaller New York production facilities are ramping up, too. Cine Magic Riverfront Studios, where the soon-to-be-released Sacha Baron Cohen comedy “The Dictator” was shot, is doubling the size of its studio space in Williamsburg.
“This business is so good, everyone can expand,” said Cine Magic CEO Peter Kapsalis. “It is keeping New York crews employed.”
The studio blitz comes on the heels of a record year for TV production and provides further evidence of the film industry’s impact on the New York City economy.
The city’s film production biz employs more than 100,000 New Yorkers and contributes about $5 billion to the local economy annually, according to city officials.
It also helps keep 4,000 related businesses, from electricians to makeup artists, in the money.
Last year, 188 films and a record 23 primetime TV series were shot in the Big Apple, from old-timers like “30 Rock” to newcomer “Smash.” The upcoming season could be another blockbuster, with 13 star-studded TV pilots filming here.
“We are growing and growing,” said Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, which has worked to eliminate obstacles to filming in the city. “Ten years ago, we had nine primetime series. Now we have 23. People want to be here. They want the iconic locations.”
Demand is so high, the city’s studios and streets are getting crowded.
“There is a shortage of stages,” said New York City film veteran Jane Rosenthal, the CEO of Tribeca Enterprises, whose rookie cop show, “NYC 22,” was shot at Silver Screen Studios at Chelsea Piers and on the streets of Harlem. “When you are working on a show you have to make sure you don’t catch another film crew down the street.”
L.A. is feeling the heat. Though Hollywood still rules, television production there fell 10.6% in the fourth quarter of last year as Tinseltown lost 10 onehour TV dramas. Many of them went to New York.
“I much prefer New York over L.A.,” said Merrill Karpf, executive producer of the CBS show “Unforgettable,” filmed at Silvercup. “It is the most exciting city in the world and it brings a visual component to the show that you wouldn’t get in Toronto or Los Angeles.”
The turning point for New
York was the introduction of tax credits for film production back in 2004. Today, New York State provides a credit of 30% for certain types of production expenses. The tax breaks essentially turned a dying industry into a gusher.
“The New York State tax program really transformed film pro- duction,” said Silvercup President Stuart Suna.
Before New York became competitive, even New York-focused shows like “Seinfeld” were shot elsewhere.
“The tax credits are very important,” said “Boardwalk Empire” executive producer Terence Winter. “This is a very ex- pensive show to do, and it makes the difference between doing the show and not being able to do it.”
But New York’s hot run may not last. The film tax credit expires in 2014. If it were to go away, many local sets would likely go black.
“We believe the no-brainer of its success will allow it to contin- ue,” said Hal Rosenbluth, president of Kaufman Astoria, which dates back to 1920. “It has been renewed several times. It is driving production here.”
Steiner, who opened his studio’s doors in 2004, is clearly betting on the city’s future as a production mecca. His five new soundstages are primarily geared for television and commercial work.
“We have been busy from the moment we cut our ribbon. We have been going like gangbusters,” Steiner said. “The demand is there. Now we can meet that demand.”