NEW YORK, April 22 -- A record 175 films were made in New York City in 1995, surpassing the 1994 record of 157, according to figures released Monday by the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting. The Big Apple has been the nation's secondary movie capital after Hollywood since World War II, when filming began to move out of the studio and onto real locations to a greater extent than ever before. But 1995 was the first year when the increase of feature films made in New York approached 10 percent. 'This unprecedented level of production growth provides not only a rise of $500 million in direct expenditures but a significant gain of over $50 million in the amount of annual tax revenues generated by film and TV production,' said Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in releasing 1995 film statistics. 'While the movie industry was actually born here and has a 102-year history in the city, New York's international production community has never been more visible or more valuable to the city's economy than it is now.' The figures released by Pat Scott, commissioner of film, theater and broadcasting, showed that production expenditures in the city last year rose to $2 billion, up from $1.75 billion in 1994 and $1.4 billion in 1993. Indirect economic benefits to the city in 1995 totaled $4.6 billion and tax revenues were estimated as $200 million. There were a total of 20,187 production shooting days in the city, counting commercials and music videos as well as movies and TV programs, up from 18,003 in 1994.
Production supported 4,000 related businesses and provided employment for 75,000 resident industry professionals. Giuliani noted that, for the first time, nine major motion pictures were filmed entirely or almost entirely in New York during the usually slow winter season of 1995-96. Those include 'Night Falls in Manhattan,' the 29th film director Sidney Lumet has made in New York, and a new film by Woody Allen, who also has favored New York as the location for most his films. Others were Barbra Streisand's 'The Mirror Has Two Faces,' Hugh Wilson's 'The First Wives Club,' Don Petrie's 'The Associate,' Alan Pakula's 'Devil's Own,' Mike Newell's 'Donnie Brasco,' Ron Howard's 'Ransom' and Penny Marshall's 'The Preacher's Wife.' Five primetime television series also were under production in the city in 1995-96 season, the highest number since the 1960s. They were 'Law & Order,' 'New York Undercover,' 'Swift Justice,' 'Central Park West,' and 'The Education of Matt Waters.' New series now in progress are Bill Cosby's new comedy, Dick Wolf's series 'Fed,' 'The Dana Carvey Show,' and David Frankel's new series for DreamWorks Television. Movie and TV filming also is a boon to New York State's economy, according to Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corp. He reported that 54 features were made in the state outside New York City in 1995. Gargano said that film, TV work, and music videos brought the state $700 million in direct and indirect economic activity in addition to the $4.6 billion generated by New York City, for a grand total of $5.3 billion. There were 1,447 production days of film, television, and music video in areas of the state outside New York City. '1995 left little doubt that New York State is a good place for the movie business,' Gargano said. 'The real New York is New York. No imitations.'
