Jimmy Fallon had his New York moment with the recent sign-off of the 2014 New York State budget. AMNEWYORK has a lead article in its Sunday edition that offers a few more updates regarding the ongoing developments of how state and City tax breaks are bringing more production to town. We have previously reported these stories as they occur in various media in New York and elsewhere, so there’s not too much new detail that AMNEWYORK reporters Ivan Pereira and Alesandria Masi deliver.
However, with the recent news that Leno may be on the way out, NBC is said to be planning to bring “The Tonight Show” back to its original location in New York. (Johnny Carson started the show at 30 Rock before moving it to NBC Burbank.) The reporters say that “there reportedly is a provision that would give large talk shows the tax break” to come to the City.
This tax break is more than a rumor, however, since the Times, Deadline Hollywood and others have reported on it before. Some are a bit snide in calling it the “Jimmy Law” since it seems to have been written into Cuomo’s executive budget to benefit Jimmy Fallon, who presumably will be tapped by NBC for the position. Fallon supposedly wants to stay in New York, where up until this budget held that tax credits would not be available for talk shows, as reported in Syracuse.com. That article also reports that State Senator John DeFrancisco said “The Tonight Show” is “worthy of NY state tax breaks” as it would be a “morale boost” for the state.
Syracuse.com, which is the website of that city’s The Post-Standard newspaper, recently took on the whole issue of who benefits with such tax breaks in its series “NY keeps public in dark as (film tax) credits roll” on the Empire State Film Production Tax Credit.
Here are the first few grafs of the article. You can read the rest by visiting this link.
It’s more than just “The Tonight Show” and its rumored return east.
The Big Apple has become one of the most sought-after locations for the small screen, and the city benefits from its Hollywood pull.
Right now there are 25 primetime episodic shows being filmed in the five boroughs, along with dozens of cable, variety and talk shows, and that number keeps growing, according to the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment.
Even more shows are on the way, thanks in part to the incentive of new tax breaks from the state, and the city’s studios are gearing up for the tidal wave of productions.
“As long as it continues to be a great place to live, work and capture on film, New York and its image will always be something that producers want to be and take advantage of,” said Hal Rosenbluth, president of Kaufman Studios in Long Island City, where “Nurse Jackie” and “Sesame Street” are shot…
