Hollywood on the Hudson History

Will Tax Incentives Continue to Bring a Wave of Hollywood Film Makers Back to New York? Film Fans hope so.

When you think of famous Hollywood films, did you know that King Kong and Breakfast at Tiffany'swere both made in NYC?

The Hollywood film industry had its roots in New York City, the original motion picture capital - but today even Hollywood is competing against cities like Vancouver BC and cities from Down Under.

Wikipedia states that motion picture director D.W. Griffith filmed the first Hollywood movie called 'In Old California', a Biograph melodrama about Latino-Mexican occupied California in the 1800s. The movie stayed there for months and Griffith made several films in Hollywood before returning to New York.

If I told you that filming in NY was only a $5 Billion Dollar venture that provides about 100,000 jobs, then you'd almost think that New York and Hollywood aren't in any competition to each other at all - but like the 'dollar-wise' shopper, film producers also want to cut the bottom line on their film budget, so they often film the essential scenes om location in NYC and then carry-on with filming at a more cost effective film set.

But can New York City successfully seduce film production companies back to NY?

Yes, the power of the bold new tax incentives are accomplishing just that by persuading film producers like Mel Brooks to see the huge savings in coming home to NYC for the remake of "The Producers" in Brooklyn's Steiner Studios -- it just makes sense. In fact, Mel Brooks moving his production crew back to New York has inspired other film producers to do the same and to take advantage of New York City's tax savings.

Who is one of the biggest film distributors and production companies in NYC right now? A likely candidate would be Miramax Films, (a Big 10 film studio).

NYC is also home to a long line of lesser known independent (Indie) film companies, producers and distributors who would love to see New York City get the edge on the California City of the Silver screen and New York City living up to it's name of Hollywood on the Hudson.


References:
http://www.thirteen.org/nyvoices/features/hollywood.html
Channel 13: NY Voices: Holywood on the Hudson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_of_New_York_City
Media of New York City

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood,_Los_Angeles,_California
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia