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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. “The number
of permits we were seeing was 50% compared to pre-pandemic,” says Espinal, sitting in a lower Manhattan coffee shop that used to be a bank. “I joked to my team that I remember seeing tumbleweeds roll through our office.”
The slowdown reflected a larger trend: In the past handful of years, Hollywood not only deserted Hollywood but America at large, with major productions decamping to London, Canada or Budapest in search of cheaper crews and sweeter tax breaks.
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. “The tax incentives are oxygen. 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. Thanks to Gov. 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.
“Screen time alone pays for the credit,” says Doug Steiner, who in 2004 opened Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios, home to “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Boardwalk Empire.” “That visibility for New York is so important,” he adds. “It’s product placement: New York City is the product.”
The thinking is that by subsidizing productions that show off New York, not only is the state boosting local business and employment — it’s also advertising itself. 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.
“You can’t replicate the city anywhere else. 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. “I consider it the best city in the world, and the more that’s happening here, the better.”
That said, “We’re happy to ‘cheat’ other locations,” says Rhoda Glickman, ESD’s film and arts chief. “When something’s supposed to be in Washington, D.C., and we film it here — it’s not beneath us to do that.”
Hollywood has come back to New York, and as Espinal sees it, it’s his job to keep it there. “I’m a firm believer that no matter how high the tax credit is, if you don’t have an infrastructure in place that supports filming, then it creates a burden on productions that’s not going to further attract them to your city,” he says. 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. The massive set-piece required coordination with the NYPD, the MTA and the Port Authority. And while actors battled CGI aliens, Espinal went up against a vocal community group, amplified by the New York Post, that banded together in opposition to the production and its temporary disturbance of local businesses (which were compensated by the production).
Instead of ignoring the noise and letting the backlash blow over, Espinal showed up to the set and posted a video explaining to New Yorkers why, in the long term, productions like this are a boon to the city and its inhabitants. “We’re going to have folks flying into our city, spending tourist dollars to be able to see where that shot took place,” Espinal says of the lower Manhattan apocalypse.
“When a [project] is filmed in New York, the paycheck stays in New York,” says Emily Mijatovic, ESD’s downstate communications director. “It’s also about the jobs for the local folks: the electricians, the carpenters, the drivers, the makeup artists.”
The production boom isn’t limited to film and TV projects; Espinal also shouts out Cardi B’s “Ah Ha” music video and Josh Safdie’s Knicks-themed Nike commercial. And New York is the epicenter of short-form social media series like “SubwayTakes” and “Are You Okay?,” which send scrappy film crews around town. The shows are part of a growing cottage industry that the city is supporting by streamlining the permit process and giving out awards to creators.
“Every single city, state, country in the world is thinking about how they lure the big productions,” Espinal says. “But I think the meat and potatoes is our smaller productions.”
The vibes are less celebratory in Los Angeles, which remains the global epicenter of the entertainment industry but has been severely injured by production flight. California has recently taken steps to stop the bleeding, but local barriers have frustrated producers and forced many below-the-line workers to pack their bags to head to Texas, New Jersey and, yes, New York. In 2025, L.A. logged its worst year of location shooting outside the pandemic period.
“You could fire a rifle down a street in L.A. where there’s studios and not hit anybody. That should tell you something,” Gordon says. “We’re not gloating, because it’s sad, but L.A. is a deeply troubled city with horrible leadership at the state and local level.”
Still, “I don’t think all is lost yet,” Raphael De Niro says. Despite David Ellison’s threats, Paramount is staying in Los Angeles, and California continues to beef up its incentives as production becomes a key issue in statewide political races. Both De Niros support the bipartisan federal tax incentive moving through Congress, which is backed by Donald Trump. It’s a rare issue on which the Oscar winner and president are aligned.
On a recent tour of Wildflower, Gordon shows off a giant lazy Susan-like metal platform outside the studio. He’s standing on the rotating plate, which helps 53-foot trucks exit the parking lot without making 12-point turns — one of the many improvements suggested by the Teamsters.
“We also use this for wrap parties,” Gordon says, drifting counterclockwise like a piece of sashimi on a conveyor belt. “You put the turntables there, the bar there.”
