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Though the session had speakers from Australia, the UK, Singapore
and Hong Kong as well, it was the two-woman powerhouse team representing
the state of New York that dominated the discussion.
Of course, it's important to note that the presentation had compelling
content underpinning the slick packaging. The governor's office
of New York state and the mayor's office of New York city are directly
involved in film shoot activities and the rewards are there for
all to see in that The Big Apple generates $ 5 billion a year from
the entertainment industry.
The most admirable aspect to the story is how all the different
municipal and state authorities work in close coordination and cooperation
with one unified aim in mind making it easy to get the job done.
For those of us used to the situation at home where the left hand
of the same authority (let alone others) does not know what the
right is doing, makes it all the more remarkable.
Some of the incentives provided to attract production work to New
York include: sales tax exemption, fully refundable film production
tax credits (equal to up to 15 per cent of production costs) free
media time, and free use of public utility manpower (like police)
as well as locations (that includes even premium ones like the Empire
State Building, Times Square and the Manhattan Bridge).
The facility of free media time is especially innovative and unique.
New York government provides free media time that tallies up to
one per cent of the production costs across multiple platforms like
bus shelters, radio and television. Of particular note are the free
space provided on Jumbotron screens in front of the Reuters and
Nasdaq buildings.
To use a baseball analogy (more so since the Big Apple is home
to the New York Yankees), all bases covered.
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