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The Empire State is seeing a “dramatic” increase in the number of television and film productions that are opting to shoot outside of New York City, Variety reports.
The hit HBO series The Gilded Age, Hulu’s The Ultimate Playlist of Noise, and Netflix’s Things Heard and Seen are just some of the many productions that have filmed scenes around New York State in recent months.
Variety cited several factors that are enticing productions away from the Big Apple, including an “abundance” of well-preserved 19th century architecture in places like the Capital Region, as well as the variation of landscapes found around the Hudson Valley.
“The topography is very different, depending on the county,” Laurent Rejto, director of the Hudson Valley Film Commission, told the outlet.
“For example, Orange County is more farmland, then you if you go up north to Ulster County there are more hills, streams and forests. Greene County is all mountains and Dutchess County has a lot of horse farms and all those beautiful mansions from the Gilded Age.”
Another big draw is New York’s film tax credit program, which gives qualifying projects a fully refundable credit of 25 percent of production costs and post-production costs incurred in the state.
Productions with budgets over $500,000 can receive an additional 10 percent credit on qualified labor expenses, according to the State Department of Economic Development.
In 2016, the previously excluded counties of the Hudson Valley also became eligible to receive the additional 10 percent.
The idea behind the tax break is to encourage production companies to make their film and TV projects in New York, bringing industry jobs with them, the department said.
Variety also attributed the state’s film and TV boom to an increased number of qualified production facilities available to filmmakers, like Umbra Stages in Newburgh, Upriver Studios in Saugerties, and Amory Studios in Schenectady.
Click here to read the full report from Variety.
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