When Rafael Espinal took office in February as New York City’s entertainment chief, he looked around and saw a city that was thriving but had yet to recover from a yearslong slump in film and TV production. So the media and entertainment commissioner got to work, taking scissors to the city’s red tape at the same time that recent improvements to the state’s tax incentive were attracting a swarm of new productions. Thanks to a 30% refundable tax credit backed by an annual pot of $800 million, as well as enhanced post-production and above-the-line incentives, “New York is one of the more affordable places to shoot in the world,” Espinal says.
Now, the city’s soundstages are reaching capacity and productions are flooding the streets of the Big Apple, from “The Gilded Age” to “American Horror Story” to the upcoming “Exorcist” movie. The budget enhancements convinced “The Devil Wears Prada 2” to remain in New York, which supported more than 1,400 local cast and crew members and engaged 550 local vendors. According to Empire State Development, New York’s economic development agency, the 46-day shoot generated $67.9 million in total economic activity and $45.8 million in local wages.
As America has lost ground in the global production race, New York’s share of the pie is increasing. After six years of unsteadiness, the state’s film and television business is booming: Production spending rose 57% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026, to nearly $1.06 billion, with 19% more projects shooting. You can’t live without them,” says Adam Gordon, a real estate developer who — with Robert De Niro and his son Raphael De Niro — co-founded Wildflower Studios, a sleek compound in Astoria with modular soundstages and sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline.
Wildflower opened in 2024, when the industry was crippled by shrinking studio budgets and reeling from the aftermath of twin labor strikes. Kathy Hochul’s budget amendments, signed in 2025, the studio has never been busier. New York City has processed 4,311 filming permits so far in 2026, a 27% increase from last year, with more than 600 projects filmed on public property this summer.
Maisel” and “Boardwalk Empire.” “That visibility for New York is so important,” he adds. It’s become a cliché that New York is “the fifth character” of “Sex and the City,” but there’s a reason why hundreds of people still flock to Carrie Bradshaw’s West Village stoop every week. There’s also the fact that, even with movie magic, no other city can truly pass for New York — not even Toronto, which is standing in for Queens in FX’s “Adults” and Manhattan in Sarah Polley’s upcoming “The Bell Jar” adaptation.
It’s not the same,” says Robert De Niro, whose career is built on “Taxi Driver,” “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas” — New York movies that were actually shot in New York. He attributes New York’s recent success in part to his office’s “white-glove service” — that is, his people pick up the phone and help find solutions. The first production Espinal greenlit was “A Quiet Place Part III,” which required a shutdown of the Manhattan Bridge for an alien invasion.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
