New York Poised to Overtake California as Top State for Film and TV Production
As the Empire State gains ground while Hollywood's historic home aims to retain as many projects as it can, a power shift is underway.
Hollywood's center of gravity is increasingly leaning toward the East Coast.
While California held on to the top spot with $1.76 billion in film and television production spending, New York is grabbing headlines at a much faster pace, according to industry tracker ProdPro's quarterly snapshot released Thursday. The state's manufacturing spending rose 87 percent in the quarter to $1.61 billion, compared to California's 17 percent increase.
Bulky soundstage infrastructure, a large crew union base, easier access to neighboring Tri-State locations all made for New York. Take Universal Pictures' Miami Vice: 85 as a case study. Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler's action neo-noir has been filming in the Empire State as well as Wayne, New Jersey, along with its namesake locations in Florida.
New York also has what every state craves and California misses: scripted television shows that run for seasons and seasons, often on the same soundstage. And inventory for sound stages has grown 43 percent since 2020 with a boom in targeted facilities in the state, per real estate services giant CBRE, which added in a June report that the state is "better positioned to improve than some rival markets" after studios tightened their belts on overall content spending.
This season, the state is home to The CIA, The FBI and Elizabeth (CBS), The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (NBC), as well as such staples as Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU (also NBC). In October alone, Apple TV's Ben Stiller-led conservative comedy crew launched A24's romantic drama Deep Cuts and Kate Connor's true crime PREPPY, among many other titles.
"California production costs are starting to rise again, but New York's comeback has accelerated this year, putting it within reach of the nation's largest production hub," Alex Loverd, co-founder and CEO of ProdPro, told The Hollywood Reporter. "When we put together the Q3 numbers, we thought New York might actually be ahead. California was only $147 million ahead. Whether New York can beat that is a key question we'll be watching in Q4 and 2027."
Certainly, a 17 percent increase in California—the overall leader—is nothing to scoff at. About 80 live-action film and television projects were shot in the state this quarter, per ProdPro. Gov. Gavin Newsom and his office, along with state and local officials in Los Angeles, are all committed to cutting red tape, reducing production flight and keeping studios in Burbank and Hollywood. After all, the state has just had a high-profile game with David Ellison, who threatened to move Paramount to places like Tennessee or Texas if California goes after him in court over his successful bid to buy Warner Bros. Ellison can focus on reviving existing studios in Los Angeles to handle his 30 movies a year (not all, if not most, of which are filmed in the state) and commands an empire that produces more than 100 series at any one time.
However, there are still notable escapes from California. In another season, the headline might be that Georgia - which was hit hard by the departure of Marvel's superhero projects overseas to the UK - is making a comeback. And it's ironic that Marvel's rival, DC Studios, is stepping it up. A 32% increase in Georgia production costs this quarter could see James Gunn's DC sequel Superman: The Man of Tomorrow as the country's primary resident filming on location. And Benny Safdie's Lizard Music and Netflix's Scooby-Doo were filmed in the state this quarter, LoVerde notes. Also coming soon: American Idol is packing up shop in Los Angeles and moving production to Atlanta. Given that it's a stable, decades-old franchise that can build a base, it's going to be huge.
And we haven't even talked about New Jersey, aka Hollywood East, which is emerging as a major player in its own right and has arguably been the biggest growth center in manufacturing in the past year. The state has awarded Netflix, Paramount and Lionsgate as studio partners a series of incentives to produce titles there. and has benefited from it. More recently, Netflix's Kevin Hart-Henry Cavill action spy duo and Adam Sandler's Grown Ups 3 have been filming in Monmouth County, while series such as Cupertino (CBS) and Don Levy's Mistakes (Netflix) were shot inland.
John Crowley, who served as director of the state's film commission, said that while New Jersey was down 24 percent in the number of filming in the last quarter, there's an interesting reason why: Its soundstages are at capacity. Netflix is building a base at the former site of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Paramount signed a 10-year deal at the developing 1888 Studios, just across the street from New York City in Bayonne, while Lionsgate is the executive tenant at Great Point Studios in Newark. These are all under construction.
Crowley quipped that New York wasn't available thanks to enough stage space in Jersey, saying the state was looking to withdraw projects. (Days after Crowley spoke to THR, he was fired as director of the film commission, in a move that surprised insiders, without giving a reason. But a representative of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority stands by Crowley, while also noting that the state is looking to fill the key Hollywood role he occupied.)
Another growing state market has been Illinois, where Governor JB Pritzker has touted infrastructure projects to attract Hollywood and supported incentives and spending on production in the state. Illinois saw a 15 percent increase in live-action movies and TV series within the state, but spending declined in the quarter. ProdPro CEO LoVerde points out that the same quarter last year saw Apple TV sci-fi trailer Dark Matter filming for its second season in Illinois. Dick Wolf's procedural franchise is currently in Chicago, where Med, Fire, and PD all film before airing on NBC.
Meanwhile, New Mexico is struggling with its summer lull, down 93 percent from last year. The state, which counts NBCUniversal and Netflix as studio partners, recently took a hit when Ransom Canyon, which used 700 cast and crew in the state to set in the Texas Hill Country of Netflix's romantic western, was canceled after two seasons. Netflix's four seasons began filming at the end of the third quarter, LoVerde notes, while Apple TV and Sony's Vince Gilligan drama Pluribus will begin shooting in the fourth quarter. So there is a silver lining there.
"There's less of it than there used to be," producer Steve Graham, who heads the New Mexico Film Office, told THR in August about big-ticket filming in the state. "So our average budget per production has gone down, but the number of our productions has increased recently, so we're seeing a lot of independent features with lower budgets, and even some independent TV. I think we're in the middle of a shift in the way the industry works."
Overall, US manufacturing costs were $4.9 billion in the quarter, up 17 percent year-over-year. And that's before any possible move to the federal film and TV tax credit, which could boost states outside the Big Five as potential locations for movies or TV shows if a bill passes Congress and retains White House support. But, for now, the race to watch is whether California might relinquish its status as a prime location for Hollywood projects. New York City is on a hot streak.