‘The Other Woman’ Production Spent Over $37 Million in New York State, Hired More Than 3,000 New Yorkers, and Generated $11.5 Million in Revenue for Local New York Vendors!

Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Kenneth Adams today highlighted the economic benefits resulting from The Other Woman filming primarily in New York State. Principal photography for the movie, which opens nationwide today, began in Spring 2013 and spent 56 days filming on Long Island and in New York City, as well as on location in Yonkers and Harrison, Westchester County. The production hired more than 3,000 local crew and extras, and provided a big boost to local vendors during filming, spending $11.5 million at area businesses for a variety of services and nearly $600,000 on hotel rooms alone. In total, The Other Woman spent more than $37 million during production in New York State.

“From our small towns to our big cities, New York State offers the perfect environment for filming major motion pictures,” said Commissioner Adams. “Thanks to Governor Cuomo’s efforts, and initiatives like the New York State Film Production Tax Credit Program, the film industry has created thousands of jobs by attracting productions like The Other Woman to film in the Empire State, which boosts local businesses and generates important revenue for our local and state economies.”

Local vendors that benefited from The Other Woman represent a variety of industries, including production and post production services, as well as transportation, lodging, and catering businesses, among others.  For example, more than $700,000 was spent at New York-based Camera Service Center on camera, grip and electronic equipment for the production.  And Mr. X Gotham, LLC, a New York-based post production company, generated nearly half a million dollars in business from the film.

Tom O’Donnell, President, Theatrical Teamsters Local 817 said, “The recent release of the Fox feature film, The Other Woman, is another illustration of the success of Governor Cuomo’s Film Tax Credit, in the quality jobs it creates and monetary residue it leaves behind in the communities of New York. It should be noted that New York City was not the only beneficiary as more than one third the film was shot in Westchester and Suffolk Counties.”

Since the film tax credit program started in 2004, it has leveraged an estimated $14 billion worth of direct spending and has been a huge job generator for New York. Under Governor Cuomo’s leadership, the industry has experienced explosive growth since 2011, with record-breaking years for productions and post production in 2013, bringing billions of dollars in new spending and thousands of jobs into New York State. The stability provided by multi-year funding has particularly encouraged the development of television series production work, as well as long term investments in infrastructure, all of which creates thousands of jobs directly and indirectly related to the actual productions themselves.

Empire State Development (ESD) is New York’s chief economic development agency; you can visit their website here. The mission of ESD is to promote a vigorous and growing economy, encourage the creation of new job and economic opportunities, increase revenues to the State and its municipalities, and achieve stable and diversified local economies. Through the use of loans, grants, tax credits and other forms of financial assistance, ESD strives to enhance private business investment and growth to spur job creation and support prosperous communities across New York State.

The Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development (MPTV) is a division within ESD, which is also the primary administrative agency overseeing Governor Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils and the marketing of “I Love NY,” the State’s iconic tourism brand. For more information on Regional Councils and Empire State Development, visit the Regional Councils website here and ESD here. For more information about MPTV and filming in New York State, please visit www.nylovesfilm.com.

New York City is the setting for some of the greatest movies and television scenes of all time, from King Kong roaring at the top of the Empire State Building, to a young Woody Allen’s childhood home under a Coney Island roller coaster in “Annie Hall.” And yet, until, recent years, too many films and television shows set in New York were filmed in Toronto or on sound stages in Los Angeles.

New Yorkers have begun to change this with the help of a state tax credit, a deepening talent pool, and entrepreneurial efforts to build and expand studio space and post-production offices across the City. In the 2012-2013 television season, 26 prime-time series were shot in New York City, compared with just seven 10 years ago, and 21 hour long dramas were filmed here. The growth of talent and resources has increased economic activity across all filmed content – including advertising, digital media, post production, and animation. According to a 2012 Boston Consulting Group study, the filmed production sector employs 130,000 people in New York City, an increase of 30,000 since 2004, and accounts for $7.1 billion in private sector spending, an increase of 70% since 2002.

This industry is not just a source of good jobs – it provides opportunities for creative employment for New Yorkers, it promotes New York City across the globe, drawing curious tourists and inspiring people from across the world to come to New York City to seek a better life.

With smart leadership and continued engagement with this creative community, the City can grow the number of jobs in this sector by another 12% in the next four years, adding over 15,000 jobs in filmed production.

In order to ensure the continued vitality of this exciting industry in New York City, and connect many more New Yorkers to jobs and opportunities in film and television, a Bill de Blasio administration would take the following steps.

Create a New Film, Post-Production and Animation School at the Navy Yard
Plans are currently underway for the development of a Graduate School of Cinema in partnership with Brooklyn College at the Navy Yard, including a $6.7 million investment by the City of New York. This school currently aims to enroll up to 400 students. As Mayor, Bill de Blasio would support an expansion of the plan to create a school offering a wider range of degrees at the associate and bachelor’s level. This CUNY school, integrated into a working film lot, would grant opportunities to more students interested in pursuing careers in film and production. The City should also reconsider a partnership with Carnegie Mellon, rejected by the Bloomberg administration, to bring a high-tech post-production center and educational programs in digital media, entertainment technology, and screen acting to the Navy Yard.

Triple Enrollment in the Made in NY PA Training Program
The Made in NY PA Training Program is a collaboration between the Brooklyn Workforce Innovations and the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting. The program gives unemployed low-in- come New Yorkers training and job opportunities as production assistants on films and television pro- grams being made in New York City. This program is currently small, having trained 400 New Yorkers since 2006, or just under 60 per year. Because of its success, however, it deserves to be scaled up to reach more New Yorkers. As mayor, Bill de Blasio would seek industry partners and private funders to match additional City support and aim to triple annual enrollment to 180 each year. This would also involve reaching out to local high schools, community colleges, and workforce development programs to find students interested and capable to enter the burgeoning New York City film industry.

Create a “Film & TV Lab,” modeled after the EDC’s successful “Media Lab” for Film Production, Post-Production, and Animation
As mayor, Bill de Blasio would create a partnership among the four major studios in New York City (Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, Steiner Studios in the Navy Yard, Silvercup Studios in Long Island City, and Broadway Stages in Brooklyn), as well as the film programs at all the major public and private universities. This Film & TV Lab would connect New York film programs with New York studios to encourage innovation, R&D, and shared policy goals to support the burgeoning film community in New York City. It would be modeled after the Economic Development Corporations successful “Media Lab” project that pursues similar goals for the City’s tech and media industries. It would also work with companies and schools to craft initiatives designed to expand access to entry-level media jobs for more New York residents from traditionally disadvantaged communities.

Bring More Film Production to Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island
Bill de Blasio would aim to spur additional filming in iconic locations across the five boroughs. This would include an expansion of the “Made in New York” location library and partnerships with local community boards to offer suggestions, on-the-ground enthusiasm, and assistance to film crews in communities that would like to see their neighborhoods on screen. He will also work with these communities to ensure that film shoots are not unduly disruptive to neighborhood life.

Maintain Quality Leadership at the Mayors Office of Media and Entertainment and the Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting
Katherine Oliver has served as Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Film Theatre and Broadcasting (now part of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, also headed by Katherine Oliver) since 2002 and has shepherded this strong expansion to New York City’s film and television industry. Mayor Bloomberg’s leadership around this has been a demonstration of the power of government to spur growth in key industries. As mayor, Bill de Blasio would continue to seek strong, capable, and tech- savvy leaders in this position.

This statement was originally published in 2013 as part of Bill de Blasio’s campaign message when he ran for mayor of New York. 

This article by Dan Miner originally appeared on the website Buffalo Business First 

Millions of people across the world watched the 56th Grammy Awards on Sunday, including a nearly two-minute Pepsi “halftime show” commercial featuring CBS football personalities.

They didn’t know that “crowd” in the commercial, which appeared to fill a stadium as the personalities performed various musical numbers, was only about 150 extras. The “performances” from Deion Sanders, Terry Bradshaw, Shannon Sharpe and Mike Ditka were done in front of green screens.

And the people charged with taking that disparate, raw footage and making it look like a major stadium concert were headquartered at the Tri-Main Center building in Buffalo. The first wave of employees at Empire Visual Effects, a company created with the help of a $2.5 million New York state grant and a collaboration with Daemen College, duplicated the extras to make them look like a huge crowd and then performed the highly technical process of making the footage look consistent and authentic. For instance, when flames were shot from the stage, the burst of light had to be reflected in the crowd and the performers.

The final product was delivered only a few days before the Grammy’s.

It was a big win for the fledgling visual effects project in Buffalo. The first of many, according to Ben Porcari, an Empire Visual Effects managing partner.

“From our initial staff we’ve brought on, they’ve basically been 100 percent booked since they came on board,” Porcari said. “What we need to do is build and grow intelligently so that we can make sure we deliver the absolute highest-quality product, because that is essential.” 

The Empire Visual Effects-Daemen initiative was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in July 2013. Both the Rochester Institute of Technology and Cornell University were approached about the program, but Daemen’s International Center for Excellence in Animation and previously announced visual effects certificate program won the state’s support.

The idea: people with some experience or education in visual effects are recruited into the four-month training program, which costs a total of $5,250, and given training specific to the needs of Empire Visual Effects. Daemen received $1.9 million to build out its space at the Tri-Main Center as part of the project.

The goal is to create a visual effects industry in Buffalo, where the tax burden is cheaper than California, the real estate more affordable than New York City, and the logistical concerns far less of a concern than outsourced shops in places like India.

Thus far, Empire Visual Effects has hired four full-time employees from the Daemen program, while three others worked as freelancers from the Grammy’s commercial. Laura Sommer, director of the college’s Visual & Performing Arts Program, said interest in the certificate program is growing as Daemen networks with community colleges across the state.

Currently, Empire Visual Effects has a few desks in the IBC Digital offices at the Tri-Main building, but its state grant is tied to the Empire Visual Effects creation of 150 jobs, and Procari said they are setting the stage for a much bigger presence in Tri-Main.

“Our first projects, we’ve been looking at a lot of proof of concept and taking a look at the quality of graduates we’ve gotten out of Daemen,” he said. “What we’ve seen is that they’ve been phenomenal.”

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today congratulated the 16 New York-based productions that received accolades as Emmy award winners, and who participate in the New York State Film Production Tax Credit program. Dozens of New York productions won awards at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards, including four winning productions in the New York State Film Production Tax Credit program who cited the program as a leading factor in the decision to film and produce in New York. In addition, 12 winners in the NYS Film Production Credit Program were presented with the 2013 Creative Arts Emmy Awards last week.

“I want to congratulate all of the New Yorkers who won Emmys this year,” Governor Cuomo said. "Thanks to our newly expanded New York State Film Production Tax Credit Program we’ve created thousands of new jobs and generated billions of dollars in economic activity through the thriving film and television industries. The awards were a well-deserved tribute to the thousands of people who make up New York's great entertainment industry, especially the crew members who make our state the place to film. New York’s entertainment industry is experiencing the most active and productive period in the State’s history, and I look forward to welcoming more productions in the coming year to our great State.”

"Production of motion pictures, television, and internet content has never been higher in our 89 year history, said John Ford, President Local 52 International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. The officers and members of Studio Mechanics Local 52 IATSE thank Governor Cuomo and the NYS Legislature for extending legislation that has created thousands of additional jobs that provide decent wages as well as medical and retirement benefits."

"New York has truly entered a Golden Age of television production and our union will eclipse all employment records by the year's end, said Tommy J. ODonnell, President, Theatrical Teamsters Local 817. Credit goes to Governor Cuomo in supporting the extension of the New York Film Tax Credit and his commitment to growing jobs that will energize the middle class in the Empire State."

"Governor Cuomo has done more to bring television production to New York than anyone in the history of the industry, said Douglas C. Steiner, Chairman of Steiner Studios. His long-term vision and support has created tens of thousands of jobs in the new frontiers of media and has made New York the worlds first choice for quality film and television production."

The Post New York Alliance is thrilled to see the post production industry represented in the Creative Emmy winners and nominees, said Yana Collins Lehman, Managing Partner, Trevanna Post. Since Governor Cuomo tripled the post incentive last year, New York has seen a massive influx of great projects finishing here. We've never been busier, and couldn't be more proud of our colleagues being recognized for their outstanding work.

The recently expanded New York State Film Production Tax Credit program includes new incentives to attract television shows produced in other states to New York to create jobs, spur tourism and generate new spending. The program supports a robust industry cluster that has become a major source of direct and indirect employment and economic opportunity across the State. In addition, the recently expanded and enhanced program provides new incentives that lower restrictions on post-production, which makes it easier for productions to do this work in New York State. A new provision aims to attract out-of-state talk and variety programs to the Empire State if they have filmed at least five seasons in another state. There are also new incentives to boost production in upstate New York.

To read the complete press release including a list of the 2013 Primetime Emmy Award winners who participated in the New York Film Production Tax Credit Program, click here.