It’s official: New York State has supercharged its production incentives. With Gov. Kathy Hochul signing the delayed state budget into law, producers can now count on a significantly sweeter deal to shoot in the Empire State—just in time to counter the chaos sparked by Trump’s proposed 100% tariff on foreign-made films.
The enhanced program keeps the base incentive at 30%, with potential uplifts bringing it to 40% for major players. What’s new? An additional $100 million has been carved out exclusively for independent productions through 2036—$20 million for projects under $10 million and $80 million for those above. Not owned 51% or more by a publicly traded company? You’re in.
Even better, New York is offering a Production Plus program. If your company has $100M+ in qualified NY spend across two projects, you’re now eligible for an extra 10% incentive boost on future work. That’s right—big series could earn up to 40% back just by staying in-state.
Other key updates include:
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Above-the-Line Labor: The $500K per-person cap is gone. The overall ATL spend limit remains at 40% of qualified BTL/vendor costs.
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Post-Only Projects: Now eligible with just $1 million in post costs spent in NY (previously required 75% of the budget).
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VFX & Animation: Thresholds lowered to 10% of budget or $500K spent in-state (down from 20% or $3M).
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Music Scoring: New 10% bonus if at least five musicians are hired for work in NY.
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Accelerated Credit: Credits over $5M no longer need to be spread out over three years. Claim it all in year one, starting in 2025.
