TV loves NY in record year for Big Apple

Lights, cameras, New York! The city that has served as a classic backdrop for American cinema is celebrating a record year for television production, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Having hosted everything from Woody Allen classics to sci-fi monster invasion flicks, New York has long been second only to Los Angeles as a movie center. But in 2011 the city cemented its status as a television hotbed, with 23 primetime series being filmed here, compared to just nine a decade ago. "With our beautiful city, talented workforce... New York City has surpassed all previous records for film and television production," Bloomberg told a press conference on Thursday held on the set of primetime series "Gossip Girl." Officials said that some 100,000 New Yorkers make a living from the film and television industry, which last year turned out 140 TV shows of different stripes and 188 movies, bringing in $5 billion. The massively successful US television industry apparently cannot get enough of New York as a setting. The skyscrapers, the romance of Central Park, and the photogenic roughness of streets in the outer boroughs are as common on the small screen as in movie theaters. "Gossip Girl," which recounts the lives of beautiful, privileged Manhattan youngsters, and which airs its 100th episode Monday, "makes New York a central character," Bloomberg said, flanked by Blake Lively and other cast members. The same could be said of international hits like "Sex and the City," "Seinfeld" and "Friends." Studio-based comedy favorites "Saturday Night Live" and "The Late Show with David Letterman" have been shot here for three decades. Speaking at the "Gossip Girl" set in Silvercup Studios in Queens, executive producer Stephanie Savage said they had initially been pressured to choose a film lot in Los Angeles, but refused. "It became our mission: New York or bust," she said. "We pitched this show in the most exciting city in the world at the most exciting time of your life." Great cityscapes are not the only reason that New York has lured so many hard-nosed executives, despite being one of the most expensive places to work and live in the world. New York state offers a 30 percent tax credit to film makers and this will run for at least four more years, helping to counter competition from Canada's own would-be Hollywoods, such as Vancouver. New York City also used to provide a five percent tax credit, but had to cut that due to the bad economy. Despite periodic grumbling about preening actors blocking local streets with their trailers, New Yorkers mostly take the outdoor filming and flood of celebrities in stride. Bloomberg, a billionaire media mogul who puckered up for a New Year's kiss with Lady Gaga at the recent Times Square celebrations, said he gets a little star-struck around actors. "I sort of pinch myself," he said.