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New York Mayor Touts Record 23 Primetime TV Shows Filming in Big Apple

Michael Bloomberg held his daily press briefing Monday from the set of ABC fall season show "Pan Am" at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn.

By Georg Szalai, THR

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Monday once again emphasized the importance of entertainment productions to New York City, highlighting a record 23 primetime TV shows filming in the city's five boroughs now.

Giving his daily press briefing from the set of ABC fall season show Pan Am at Steiner Studios in Brooklyn, Bloomberg said the entertainment industry supports 4,000 local businesses and contributes $5 billion to the local economy. Out of the 23 primetime projects filming now, at least eight are shows picked up out of this year's 20 pilots shot in the Big Apple. The mayor highlighted that the city is also the home to 140 news programs, talk shows and reality series, while 200 films were shot here last year.

"During a time of financial distress, more TV shows are shooting in our city than ever before," Bloomberg said, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "These shows are providing a great boost to our local economy and creating jobs at a time when we really need them.  In fact, new growth in our production and entertainment industries is one of the reasons we’re creating jobs at a faster clip than the rest of the nation."

Citing federal and state labor statistics, the mayor said that since the recession began, "the U.S. has lost 5.6 percent of its private sector jobs. New York City, on the other hand, has lost only 0.3 percent."

Bloomberg and Katherine Oliver, commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, were joined by executive director of the State Office for Motion Picture & Television Development Pat Kaufman, Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz, other politicians, Steiner Studios chairman Douglas Steiner and Pan Am executive producers Nancy Hult Ganis and Thomas Schlamme, as well as show crew members.

“Thousands of New Yorkers are hard at work building sets, making costumes and scouting locations for the record 23 new and returning TV shows that film here,” said Bloomberg, according to a statement. “A show like Pan Am employs 400 people behind the scenes and generates activity for our local economy at places like lumberyards, fabric stores and coffee shops. We’re working to strengthen and diversify New York City’s economy and create jobs and our thriving entertainment industry is a prime example of those efforts paying off.”

This year, New York City-based shows earned a record 110 Primetime Emmy nominations, he also highlighted.

“This fall, our televisions screens will once again be filled with a host of shows that are made right here in the Big Apple,” said Oliver. "We wish all the new and returning shows all the best during this upcoming season and at the Primetime Emmys."

Steiner thanked the Bloomberg administration for its support of the entertainment industry. “This onslaught of film and television production here is a direct result of the mayor and other elected officials working together to make New York City competitive and hassle-free,” he said.

Steiner Studios, at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, is in the midst of an expansion that will "double what is already the largest soundstage and production facility on the East Coast," Bloomberg said. "The Navy Yard has added 2,200 jobs since 2001, and thanks to the Steiner expansion and other developments, it will add over 2,000 more in the next two years."

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Television rules the city: New York has TV boom with record 23 shows shot in big apple

By Erin Einhorn, NY Daily News

Mayor Bloomberg and TV execs credited tax breaks, a skilled work force and New York's special character with a record 23 TV shows under production in the city.

"We could do it anywhere, but I really was looking to do a show back in New York," said Thomas Schlamme, the executive producer of the new show "Pan Am," which is taping on a Brooklyn sound stage and premiering on ABC in September.

The characters in the 1963 drama about pilots and flight attendants live in New York, Schlamme said, and the city just felt right.

"There was a talent pool and a location and a reason to be in New York that we chose to do this show," Schlamme said. "Artistically, it was greatly to my advantage."

Schlamme and some of his actors Monday gave Bloomberg and other local pols a tour of the Pan Am set at Steiner Studios in the old Brooklyn Navy Yard as Bloomberg announced the record run for shows being shot here.

The mayor's office credits the film and TV industry with 4,000 local businesses, 100,000 jobs and $5 billion for the local economy.

"It employs an enormous number of people and there are studios all over the city," Bloomberg said.

"The people that work in actually producing a movie or a television series or something and get the most money are not the big stars.

"It is the carpenters, the grips, the electricians, the truck drivers and the local cleaning store. This is an industry that really distributes its money broadly in the economy."

The mayor said the extension of state tax breaks has helped make New York more attractive to producers - but it isn't the only factor.

"I've had some of the most famous producers in the world tell me it does cost more money here and, yes, that unions have negotiated contracts that they get paid more," Bloomberg said.

"But every one of the producers said, 'We get so much more from the people working in those unions.' They are better prepared. They work harder. They're more flexible and, you know, you get your money's worth."

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