Supporting Film Production, Post-Production Industry in NYC
September 17, 2008
Bobby Cannavale, an Emmy-award winning actor of ‘Will and Grace’ fame, talks about the importance of the production and post-production film and television industries. Also pictured are myself at left, Assembly Member Jonathan Bing (center), and Councilmember David Yassky (right). Photo by William Alatriste.
I may be the only New York elected official with my own Internet Movie Database (IMDb) profile. I was proud to work in college on a 2000 film called Five Feet High and Rising, which was later turned into a feature film launching the career of the movie’s director, my friend Peter Sollett. I was so proud when New York’s production tax credit helped enable Peter to film the anticipated October release, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist in New York City. Film production located in New York City is tremendously important for our economy — but it is clear that we can and should be doing more to encourage production and post-production work.
Yesterday, I joined Councilmember David Yassky and my State legislative colleagues Assembly Members Jonathan Bing and Michael Gianaris and State Senator Martin Golden to call on the New York City Council to pass two bills introduced by Councilmember Yassky; one would expand the City’s film production tax credit and the other would create a new credit for post-production work. Our effort was reported on in today’s New York Sun.
Tax credits for the film and television industry are proven to bring jobs and help the local economy. Since New York State tripled its film production tax credit, heavy employment shooting days are up 84%. This means that more union actors have jobs. Screen Actors Guild officials say that a significant number of previously uninsured actors are now in union-sponsored healthcare programs because of the availability of these jobs in New York. According to the Mayor’s Office, the initial 5% tax credit that Councilmember Yassky achieved with his 2005 legislation has generated $600 million and over 6,000 new jobs for the City’s economy. His new production credit expansion legislation would triple this.
Equally important is post-production. As a film school graduate, I watched as many of my friends moved to Los Angeles because of a lack of jobs here in New York City. Particularly, in film and television post-production, most people don’t realize that most of the work that goes into making the movies and TV shows we love comes after the camera stops rolling — sound mixing and re-recording, foley artists, adding the track, digital effects, and more. The ripple effect of a post production tax credit encouraging that industry here would be a major boon to our local economy.
Councilmember Yassky’s post-production credit and a state-level credit (A.10689) proposed by Assemblymember Steve Englebright, which I co-sponsor, would stimulate the ripe field of post-production in New York City. New York has three major, state of the art post-production facilities, rivaling what Los Angeles has, but Los Angeles still wins 95% of all post-production jobs.
Joining us at yesterday’s press conference were actor Matt Servitto of The Sopranos, actress and writer Nancy Giles of CBS Sunday Morning and representatives from the Motion Picture Editors Guild, Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild, Cinematography Guild, American Federation of Musicians, Theatrical Teamsters, IATSE and the Deluxe New York post-production facility.
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