I once attended Production East, a movie industry trade show in New York, where the troublesome subject of “runaway production” was repeatedly raised. (“runaway” being the quaintly xenophobic term used by certain people in America who believe they are entitled to sole ownership of the production processes of the worldwide film industry). New York at the time was recently post 9-11, and cities like Toronto and Vancouver had considerably upped their game to play regular stand-in for NYC. And New Yorkers were cross. After three days of panel discussions and debate, and apparently little willingness by any New Yorker crew to do stuff like cut their rates, a frustrated delegate finally said: “So what are we going to do about runaway production to Toronto? The eminent panellists looked at each other, a little non-plussed for a while, and then one said with a goofy grin: “Nuke it?” Oh, the hilarity! But there was no further discussion about how NYC could become more competitive……
Anyway, that was then. Now it would seem that the whole discussion was moot anyway, since I’ve noted, even from my own blog, just how many recent movies have been set in – and actually filmed in – New York. Check out the New York in the Movies site; it’s an eye-opener.