What happened in this Culture story?

New York City's film and TV business is booming under entertainment chief Rafael Espinal, with production spending up 57% year-over-year in Q2 2026 thanks to an $800 million-backed state tax credit that's pulling work away from a struggling Los Angeles.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Rafael Espinal**, NYC's entertainment chief since February, inherited an office where permits were running at 50% of pre-pandemic levels but now oversees 4,311 filming permits in 2026 — a 27% increase year-over-year — after cutting red tape and pitching productions on his "white-glove service"

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**New York's film tax incentive** offers a 30% refundable credit backed by $800 million annually, plus enhanced post-production and above-the-line incentives; Espinal calls the city "one of the more affordable places to shoot in the world"

📎 SkimNews has covered New York City 12+ times · see the file →

Sets and the City: Why New York’s Film and TV Business Is Booming — SkimNews

By Variety · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-30

Get the Culture newsletter

Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.

Rafael Espinal, NYC's entertainment chief since February, inherited an office where permits were running at 50% of pre-pandemic levels but now oversees 4,311 filming permits in 2026 — a 27% increase year-over-year — after cutting red tape and pitching productions on his "white-glove service"
New York's film tax incentive offers a 30% refundable credit backed by $800 million annually, plus enhanced post-production and above-the-line incentives; Espinal calls the city "one of the more affordable places to shoot in the world"
Statewide production spending rose 57% year-over-year in Q2 2026 to nearly $1.06 billion, with 19% more projects shooting, according to Empire State Development
"The Devil Wears Prada 2" remained in New York for a 46-day shoot that generated $67.9 million in total economic activity and $45.8 million in local wages, employing more than 1,400 cast and crew and engaging 550 local vendors
Wildflower Studios in Astoria — co-founded by Robert De Niro, Raphael De Niro, and developer Adam Gordon — opened in 2024 and has never been busier, buoyed by Gov. Kathy Hochul's 2025 budget amendments to the incentive program
Los Angeles logged its worst year of location shooting outside the pandemic in 2025, with below-the-line workers decamping to Texas, New Jersey, and New York; both De Niros publicly back a bipartisan federal tax incentive that Donald Trump also supports
Espinal's first greenlight, "A Quiet Place Part III," required a Manhattan Bridge shutdown for an alien-invasion set piece and drew vocal community backlash that he countered by showing up on set and posting a video defending the disruption

Why it matters: The economic math is reshaping where Hollywood physically works: New York's $800 million-backed 30% tax credit is pulling productions and below-the-line jobs from Los Angeles, which just logged its worst location-shooting year outside the pandemic in 2025. With production now a political issue in California races and a bipartisan federal incentive backed by Trump moving through Congress, the industry's geographic realignment is becoming federal policy.