New York Production Ramp-Up Bright Spot In Strapped City, But Concerns Persist – Deadline

New York City could have 40 or more productions underway by the end of the year, which will decisively bring it back to pre-COVID-19 levels as the rise of the industry that has started in September gains momentum in the fall.

This is great news for the entertainment industry, a welcome boost to the local economy, and an encouraging boost to the bustle in person – with strict protocols – in a city where block after block of offices, the towers are empty, tourism is cut and unemployment is increasing.

“The parking lot is full,” said Doug Steiner, real estate developer and CEO of Steiner Studios. “Everyone’s back,” he said, referring to nine productions that include Amazon The wonderful Mrs. Maisel – in long pre-production and with a view to starting January 2021 – and Showtime City on a hill – also in pre-production and in preparation. Starz’s Power Book II: Ghost pulls pickup trucks for its current season.

Steiner said 1,500 to 2,000 people per day now populate the Brooklyn Navy Yard site.

At Silvercup Studios, CEO Alan Suna said productions at his three campuses in Long Island City and the Bronx “are fully back in action” with seven scripted series. Silvercup is home to HBO Succession, should start production in late fall.

The Suna family, who founded Silvercup in 1983 on the site of an iconic bakery, have just sold it to investors Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital. Suna will remain president. “The restart of these productions – and the jobs that go with them – will provide an economic boost that our city needs, especially at this time,” he said.

“I am reasonably convinced that by the end of the year we will have the same, if not more, the series that were filming on the pitch before the closure”, Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the mayor’s office of media and entertainment from New York, Deadline says.

Other current shows (in production or in pre-production) include The Steward, Blue Bloods, Bull and Gossip Girl. Living with Kelly and Ryan runs live in the studio, just like late night talk shows Late Night with Seth Meyers, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Saturday Night Live is going back to the studio this weekend. For life, which closed earlier this month after positive COVID-19 tests, is expected to resume shortly.

“I would say that over the last few weeks people are a lot more optimistic than they’ve ever been from the start. They go back to work and the cameras start rolling, ”said Flo Mitchell-Brown, president of the New York Production Alliance industry group.

The majority of new projects shot are TV series, mostly on sound stages where safety protocols, pods and PPE can be well monitored according to industry standards.

Location shoots are more complex now as productions have to share crowded city streets with restaurants offering alfresco dining and rules that limit parking, oversized vehicles and access. Indoor dining in the city began Wednesday, September 30, and location restrictions are expected to loosen significantly at the end of October.

Castillo’s office oversees both production and nightlife.

“You try to support each sector as much as possible. We are balancing the needs of the industry, ”she said. “But I have to say that it was very encouraging to see how much all the stakeholders have thought about and collaborated [with] producing films aimed at local restaurants that have been closed for use as venues or catering. We can’t have street food, but we can have social distancing in a restaurant. The productions are really thoughtful. “

Before COVID, New York’s production industry was at an all-time high, supporting more than 100,000 jobs – many of which were unionized jobs, including production workers, production assistants, post-production staff, actors, directors and writers. The more than 80 series and 300 films that shoot in the city each year support more than 2,000 local businesses, from florists to cafes and lumber yards. The industry has generated over $ 60 billion in direct economic activity and $ 3 billion in tax revenue per year.

“The film and television industry wants to be in New York. He is back. It will continue to prosper. It’s a rare bright spot in New York’s economy and the key to its recovery, ”said Steiner, who recently announced plans with the city to build a new 500,000 square foot film and television production center. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. with eight sound scenes.

Tax credit crisis

Of course, given the continued devastation caused by the pandemic, there is still a lot that keeps the local industry from sleeping at night.

This includes the future of the New York State tax credit, which has been critical in attracting production. The credit was renewed in April, but is reduced from 30% to 25% and eliminated for films with a budget of less than or equal to $ 1 million. It’s a big blow to small independents, just as independent producers are pressed by the additional costs of COVID security measures and the lack of affordable pandemic insurance.

The reduced tax credit was already in the works before COVID, long before the virus’s financial toll was clear. Some industry players worry about the benefit’s future given New York’s dire financial situation

“State finances being what they are, it will be quite a struggle,” predicted Mitchell-Brown, who is also responsible for industrial engagement for Extreme Reach, which provides payroll, accounting and relationships. working for production casts and teams. She said the NYPA prepared a study that supports, quantifies and justifies credit. Before releasing him, she waits to see if New York receives federal aid. “Because if we don’t, we’ll have a harder mountain to climb,” she says.

States and cities across the country are struggling to finance the massive cost of COVID. According to recent reports, New York’s hospitality and leisure industries have lost 44% of their jobs. The city’s unemployment rate is double the national average. Nearly 1,000 restaurants are said to have closed permanently.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is in a fight with President Donald Trump, and the Justice Department has called New York (and Portland and Seattle) “anarchist jurisdictions” and threatened to withdraw federal funding. Aid to cities and states has been a sticking point in the new COVID relief package being debated in Congress. Democrats want it, a lot of Republicans don’t. If aid is not provided, given the estimated New York $ 50 billion budget deficit, Governor Cuomo has said spending cuts and tax increases will be inevitable.

The virus is still there

New York, once the center of the pandemic that brought its cases to the lowest in the country, is seeing new clusters of infection in about 20 zip codes across the state, including Brooklyn. So far, they are confined to Orthodox Jewish communities. Cuomo this week described a major outreach program and urged local officials to enforce mask wear and other safety measures.

Costs, Clusters, Tax Credits, “These are the types of conversations that we have despite… the cameras rolling,” Mitchell-Brown said.

She and others also note that the ramp-up, while great, does not tell the whole story, as the risk of the virus combined with high population density may discourage new productions from heading to the city, opting for rather for farms in the upstate, or entirely in other states. , where the process is easier to control.

Seth Needle, SVP Global Acquisitions & Co-Productions at New York-based CSS Entertainment / Screen Media Ventures, said his company is currently planning projects that will shoot in upstate New York and New Jersey and in ‘others will take place in Toronto, Louisiana or Georgia.

“We are planning to shoot a series in the city early next year, but this is the only project in New York,” he said. “My view of the city is that it can still be a viable place as long as you take your precautions and safety more seriously. On the flip side, all the shoots are so tricky right now that the added hassle of coordinating such a shoot there might not be worth it.

Current challenges include advanced coordination for personnel and additional protection of the whole on a daily basis. “Adding the difficulty of filming in town on top of that could push… projects to breaking points,” he said.

“Our choice to shoot in town for the next series [which he declined to name] really comes down to capturing the authenticity of the place and welcoming the talents involved. Our other projects are less dependent on these areas, so it’s easier to move to less crowded places and have that to our advantage. “

“Even before the pandemic, New York is a very specific place to shoot,” admitted Neil Champagne of Brooklyn production company Tinygiant. He left Vancouver in May 2019 to start a scripted film and television division. This had to be put on hold in the event of a pandemic and the company doubled its main business of producing advertisements.

Commercial producers with small, non-union crews were the first to return to work in July when the city began issuing permits for location filming.

“You can shoot anything in Vancouver. There is a city downtown, the mountains, the woods, the ocean. They shoot for everywhere else in the world. Champagne said. “In New York, you do it for New York.”