Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano was joined today on the Times Square set of the Amazing Spiderman at Gold Coast Studios by Burt Young, best known for his Academy-Award nominated role as Sylvester Stallone’s brother-in-law and best friend Paulie in the Rocky film series; Dee Snider, the frontman for the heavy metal band Twisted Sister, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor; Cody Snider and Shane Snider, Actors and Directors; Fred Carpenter Writer, Producer and Director; and Ingrid Dodd and Craig Weintraub, Co-Founders of the Long Beach International Film Festival; Glen, Joe and Lindsay Lostrito from Gold Coast Studios, Parvis Farahzad of Grumman Studios, Mike N’Dolo of Camoin Associates; Angela Anton of the Nassau County Film Commission; Debra Markowitz Director of the Nassau County Film Office; Aviva Miller from the Gold Coast International Film Festival; and Randy and Charles Fisher of Hip Hop Against Gun and Gang Violence.
Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano has made it a priority to attract the movie and television industry to Nassau County, and today, a new independent economic analysis performed by Camoin Associates indicates the industry’s success. In 2012, the movie and television industry generated $140 million in economic benefit for Nassau County and more than $800,000 in sales and hotel taxes. The industry employed 1,945 people — including 890 annual jobs, and spent 393 days shooting movies and television shows in Nassau County.
County Executive Mangano stated, “Nassau County is becoming the Hollywood East of the motion picture and television industry as productions, both large and small, have been attracted to our unique facilities. My administration has supported the film industry in expanding its local operations as it benefits our residents by generating $140 million in annual economic benefit for the region and helps employ more than 1,900 people.”
The economic study, commissioned by the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency (IDA), focused its review on three filmmaking facilities: Gold Coast Studios in Bethpage, Grumman Studios in Bethpage and the Sands Point Preserve in Port Washington.
The study indicates:
Moreover, the studios are qualified New York State production facilities and therefore film producers are entitled to a 30% tax credit through the Empire State Film Production Tax Credit program.
In addition, the studios are located within the “Film Zone” – a boundary set by several New York City film industry unions to define the area in which their members will work locally without incurring travel and overtime costs. The boundary is a 25-mile radius of Columbus Circle.
The studios in the study were:
In 2012, Nassau County hosted over 650 production days. Among the more than dozen movies and television shows that were filmed in Nassau County last year were: “Spiderman,” “Winter’s Tale,” “Found Footage,” “Boardwalk Empire,” “Royal Pains,” “The Good Wife,” “Affluenza,” ”The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Four Weddings,” “Infamous,” “Deception,” “The Americans,” and “Zero Hour.”