New York Overtaking California as Top State for TV, Film Production

New York has put itself in striking distance overtaking California as the top state for television and film production.

While the Empire State has always had a solid presence in the entertainment industry with Rockefeller Center and auteur filmmakers like Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese, Hollywood has always held the title for “Entertainment Capital of the World.” Circumstances, however, might make it so New York takes that title, per The Hollywood Reporter (THR):

While California kept its crown at No. 1 with $1.76 billion in movie and TV production spend, New York is drawing major titles at a much more rapid pace, according to industry tracker ProdPro’s closely-watched quarterly snapshot released on Thursday. The state surged 87 percent in production spend in the quarter to $1.61 billion compared with California’s 17 percent uptick.

New York has been changing the game with large investments in soundstage infrastructure, crewmember unions, and access to lucrative East Coast locations like the Tri-State area. The upcoming Miami Vice: 85, for instance, did most of its principal photography in New York as well as Wayne, New Jersey.

“New York also has what all states covet, and what California has been losing: scripted TV shows that run for seasons and seasons, often in the same soundstages,” added THR. “And inventory for soundstages has grown 43 percent in the state since 2020 with a boom in purpose-built facilities, per real estate services giant CBRE, which added in a June report that the state is ‘better positioned for recovery than some competitor markets’ after studio belt-tightening on overall content spending.”

Alex LoVerde, co-founder and CEO at ProdPro, said that New York investment into its entertainment infrastructure is moving at a faster pace than California’s attempted reforms.

“California’s production spending is starting to rise again, but New York’s rebound has accelerated this year, putting it within reach of the country’s largest production hub,” said LoVerde. “As we compiled the third-quarter figures, we thought New York might actually come out ahead. California held its lead by just $147 million. Whether New York can overtake it is a key question we’ll be watching in Q4 and 2027.”

A recent report also suggested that Hollywood studios now spend only 42 percent of production budgets in the United States – down from 74 percent 25 years ago. The report from a coalition of Hollywood unions, including IATSE, the DGA, and SAG-AFTRA, said that Hollywood has dramatically decreased its spending in the United States in the past 25 years. For film production budgets, the spending has dropped from 74 percent to 42 percent; for television, the spending in the U.S. has dropped from 94 percent to 64 percent.

“The study looked into movies and TV episodes that take a significant amount of funds to make, such as films with budgets of $5 million or more, in 2025 dollars, and TV episodes costing at least $1 million, for about 40 minutes or shorter, and at least $1.7 million for episodes longer than 40 minutes,” reported the New York Post.

“In the past 25 years, the amount major studios spent on production rose from $3 billion to $7 billion. TV spending increased even more during that time, from $933 million to $8.4 billion,” it added.