Hollywood’s center of gravity is increasingly tilting to the East Coast.
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.
Bulked up soundstage infrastructure, a large crewmember union base, easier access to neighboring Tri-State locations are all adding up for New York. Take Universal Pictures’ Miami Vice: 85 as a case study. The Michael B. Jordan and Austin Butler neo-noir actioner has been filming in the Empire State as well as Wayne, New Jersey along with its namesake locations in Florida.
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. 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.
This season the state hosts CIA, FBI and Elsbeth (CBS), The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (NBC) as well as staples like Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU (also NBC). In the city in October alone, crews for Apple TV’s Ben Stiller-led comedy Protective Custody, A24 romantic drama Deep Cuts and Kit Connor true-crime film PREPPY all set up shop, among many other titles.
“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,” Alex LoVerde, co-founder and CEO at ProdPro, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”
To be sure, a 17 percent uptick in California — the overall leader — is nothing to scoff at. Some 80 live-action film and TV projects shot in state in the quarter, per ProdPro. Gov. Gavin Newsom and his office, along with state and local officials in Los Angeles are all pledging to reduce red tape, curb production flight and keep studios in Burbank and Hollywood. After all, the state just went through a high-stakes game of chicken with David Ellison, who threatened to move Paramount to locales like Tennessee or Texas if California kept pursuing him in court over his successful bid to acquire Warner Bros. While that frayed nerves, it’s now been smoothed over and the $111 billion deal is closed. Ellison can focus on revving up the existing studio lots in L.A. to make good on his 30-movies a year pledge (not all or even most of those shoot in-state, of course), and command an empire that produces more than 100 series at any time.
Yet, there are still high-profile defections from California. In a different quarter the headline for this story might’ve been that Georgia — which had been hard-hit by the departure of Marvel superhero projects that sailed overseas to the United Kingdom — is bouncing back. And it’s ironic that Marvel rival DC Studios is boosting the state. Georgia’s 32 percent spike in production spend in the quarter can count James Gunn’s DC sequel Superman: Man of Tomorrow as its tentpole resident shooting on-location. And Benny Safdie’s Lizard Music and Netflix’s Scooby-Doo origin series were shooting in state in the quarter, LoVerde notes. Also coming up soon: American Idol is packing up shop in L.A. and moving production to Atlanta. That’ll be big given it’s a stable, decades-long franchise that can set up a base.
And we haven’t even talked about New Jersey yet, aka Hollywood East, which is emerging as a major player in its own right and has arguably been the biggest growth hub over the past year in production. The state bestowed Netflix, Paramount and Lionsgate as studio partners, which have conferred a series of incentives to produce titles there. And it has been reaping the benefits. Of late, Netflix’s Kevin Hart-Henry Cavill actioner Spy Duo and Adam Sandler’s Grown Ups 3 have been filming in Monmouth County, while series like Cupertino (CBS) and Dan Levy’s Big Mistakes (Netflix) shot in-state.
While New Jersey fell 24 percent in filming count year-over-year in the quarter, there’s an interesting case being made for why: its soundstages are at capacity, said Jon Crowley, who served as the state’s film commission director. Netflix is building a base at the former site of Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Paramount inked a 10-year lease at in-development 1888 Studios just across from New York City in Bayonne, while Lionsgate is an anchor tenant of Great Point Studios in Newark. Those are all under construction.
Crowley quipped that New York saw an uptick thanks to not enough stage space in Jersey being available and said the state is looking to claw projects back. (Days after Crowley spoke with THR he was ousted as film commission director, in a move that surprised insiders, with no reason given. But a New Jersey Economic Development Authority rep stands by Crowley’s take, while also noting the state is looking to fill the key Hollywood role he occupied.)
Another growth market in the states has been Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzker has touted infrastructure projects to draw Hollywood and championed incentives and production spending in the state. Illinois saw a 15 percent uptick in live-action film and TV series shooting in-state but saw spending decrease in the quarter. ProdPro exec LoVerde points out that the comparable quarter last year in Illinois saw Apple TV’s sci-fi thriller Dark Matter shoot there for season two. It’s currently powered by Dick Wolf’s Chicago procedural franchise, where Med, Fire and PD all shoot ahead of airing on NBC. And several films, including the NFL and Hallmark’s Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story, shot in state.
New Mexico, meanwhile, is dealing with its own summer lull, dropping 93 percent year-over-year. The state, which counts NBCUniversal and Netflix as studio partners, was recently dealt a blow when Ransom Canyon, which employed 700 cast and crew in state to stand in for Texas Hill Country in Netflix’s romantic Western, was canceled after two seasons. Netflix’s The Four Seasons started at the end of the third quarter, while Apple TV and Sony’s Vince Gilligan drama Pluribus will start filming in the fourth quarter, LoVerde notes. So there’s a silver lining there.
“There are fewer of those than there used to be,” producer Steve Graham, who leads the New Mexico Film Office, told THR in August about big-ticket filming in state. “So our average budget per production has gone down, but our number of productions recently has gone up, so we’re seeing a lot more modestly budgeted independent features, and even some independent television. I think we’re in the middle of a change in the way the industry is working.”
Overall, U.S. production spend accounted for $4.9 billion in the quarter, up 17 percent year-over-year. And that’s ahead of any possible movement on a federal film and TV tax credit, which could further boost states outside of the top five major hubs as potential locations for features or series if Congress passes a bill and Trump keeps the White House backing the plan. But, for now, the race that will be watched is whether California may cede its status as the top location for Hollywood projects. New York City is on a hot streak.