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

When Rafael Espinal took office in February as New York City’s entertainment chief, he looked around and saw a city that was thriving but had yet to recover from a yearslong slump in film and TV production. “The number of permits we were seeing was 50% compared to pre-pandemic,” says Espinal, sitting in a lower Manhattan coffee shop that used to be a bank. “I joked to my team that I remember seeing tumbleweeds roll through our office.”

The slowdown reflected a larger trend: In the past handful of years, Hollywood not only deserted Hollywood but America at large, with major productions decamping to London, Canada or Budapest in search of cheaper crews and sweeter tax breaks.

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