It seems as if there is a wind of change in New York since Mayor Bloomberg has decided that movie productions will have to pay for City Hall permits, which have up until now always been free.
Permits have been free since the city established a film office in 1966, while the $300 that the permits will cost now isn’t much in a multimillion-dollar production, it is more the fact that these have always been free making it more profitable to shoot in New York.
According to AP “The fee likely would raise less than $1 million a year, but still significant to the film and television office’s relatively small $2 million budget.” According to the New York Mayor’s Office of Film “The charge would be required once for every movie, commercial or music video shoot, no matter how many days the production was working in the city, and once a season for television projects.”
While it seems as if people will have to pay for shooting on location, rumors say that New York City will continue offering free parking, street closures and police officers on set for no charge. Remember that Los Angeles, currently charge $625 for two weeks of shooting, as well as charging extra for the above mentioned.
As you might remember, in the past year some of the major productions such as the Jerry Bruckheimer film The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, starring Nicolas Cage, along with the Wall Street sequel and Sex and the City 2 have taken advantage of the free shooting permits. According to rumors “The city will have a comment period on the fee proposal and then schedule a public hearing.”
While $300 doesn’t seem like that much, do you think that it will deter production companies from shooting in New York?
I think that b/c it is a one time fee, independent of the number of filming days, and the fact that all the police and parking coverage is free, it won’t keep most companies from filming in New York.
I never knew that the police officers’ time is being covered by the taxpayers. As much as I love NYC-based filming productions that actually pisses me off. In order for us to not cut the police department staffing, the City is going to lay off over 4,000 to 6,000 teachers and close 20 fire houses and 50 senior centers. This is NOT the fiscal climate where the tax payers should have to pay for cops to be on set, especially since I have personally seen them often to nothing more than just stand around, laugh and eat during that time.
At first I thought it was a lot but if its a one time fee then its not bad at all considering how much films spend, especially if the police and parking are free.
I understand why this is being put in place but this will more likely put a dent in independent movie budgets who aren’t affiliated with a major corporation or university.