Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Media & Entertainment Commissioner Katherine Oliver have announced a record 23 television series are being filmed in New York City – contributing to the growth of an industry that supports 100,000 jobs. The Mayor kicked off this year’s television season at Steiner Studios at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the set of Sony Pictures Television’s new series Pan Am, one of 8 new prime-time episodic series being filmed in New York City. This year, New York City-based shows earned a record 110 prime-time Emmy nominations for their outstanding achievements. Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Oliver were joined at Steiner Studios by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, State Senator Daniel Squadron, Assembly Member Joseph Lentol, Steiner Studios Chairman Douglas C. Steiner, Executive Director of the State Office for Motion Picture & Television Development Pat Kaufman, Pan Am Executive Producers Nancy Hult Ganis and Thomas Schlamme, the Pan Am crew and several “Made in NY” production assistants.
New York City is home to 23 prime-time episodic television series for the 2011-2012 television season as well as 140 news programs, talk shows and reality series. The City’s entertainment industry contributes more than $5 billion to the City’s economy each year, and more than 100,000 New Yorkers make their living working on film and TV sets. There are also 4,000 local businesses that support the productions that shoot on location throughout the five boroughs. Pan Am, for example, employs 400 individuals behind the camera and purchases numerous goods and services from local businesses such as lumberyards, costume houses, food suppliers, hardware stores, transportation companies, hotels, office supply stores and furniture rental houses. Last year, 200 films were also shot on location in the City.
Pan Am premieres on Sunday, September 25, on the ABC Television Network. The original series, which follows Pan Am pilots and stewardesses in 1963 at the dawn of the Jet Age, is created by Jack Orman and is produced by Jack Orman Productions, Out of the Blue Entertainment and Shoe Money Productions in association with Sony Pictures Television.
As part of the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment’s efforts to diversify the industry, the “Made in NY” Production Assistant Training Program was developed in partnership between the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and Brooklyn Workforce Innovations, a local nonprofit, to prepare disadvantaged and unemployed New Yorkers for entry-level jobs in TV and film production. Since the program’s inception in 2006, more than 300 diverse New Yorkers have become certified “Made in NY” PAs and have collectively earned approximately $6 million in wages. Three of the graduates of the program are part of the crew of Pan Am.
The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment has also worked to connect local businesses with productions filming here. The “Made in NY” Discount Card Program currently includes 1,000 vendors ranging from prop houses to hardware stores that provide discounts off their goods and services to productions shooting in the City. Productions are also able to easily locate participating vendors by using the free “Made in NY” Discount app available to download online.
Steiner Studios is located at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Both the studio and Navy Yard are undergoing major expansions. The City invested $28 million for basic infrastructure for Steiner Studios, which, combined with $100 million in private investment from Steiner, helped create one of the largest sound stages on the East Coast and 1,000 jobs. Now the City, the Federal government and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation – led by President Andrew Kimball – is investing $15 million in a substation and site work and Steiner is investing $85 million to double the size of the studios, including space for Brooklyn College Graduate School of Cinema, creating an additional 1,200 jobs.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of the fastest growing and most successful urban industrial districts in the nation. The City has invested $250 million in infrastructure upgrades that has helped bring about more than $500 million in private investment. Since 2001, the Brooklyn Navy Yard has added 2,200 jobs and will add more than 2,000 additional jobs in the next two years. The industrial district is home to dozens of companies, including Duggal, a designer and manufacturer of the nation’s first wind-solar street lamps; Crye Precision, a cutting-edge designer and manufacturer of body armor and apparel to various arms of the US military’ Shiel Medical Laboratory, the largest privately-held medical diagnostics lab in New York City; and Gilt Group, one of the fastest growing e-commerce flash sales businesses in the nation.